Patients forced to move private centers, CMO says will be set right in few days
By: Ahmad Shabir
Anantnag: The Ultrasonography (USG) machine at Sub-district hospital Bijbehara is defunct for last nearly two months forcing the patients to move to private diagnostic centers for the investigation.
The machine, sources in the hospital said, developed some major snag nearly two months ago and is lying defunct since then.
“Since the facility was installed in the hospital some six years ago, it has been developing snags quite often. This time the machine is out of order for around two months,” a source in the hospital said.
The authorities, hospital sources said, have not bothered to set the machine right since it went out of order.
SDH Bijbehara after the medical college Anantnag remains one of the overcrowded hospitals in the district. Catering to Bijbehara town and dozens of villages of Anantnag and Pulwama, the healthcare facility registers 400 to 500 patients every day and 100 to 150 every night.
“At such an overcrowded hospital USG machine remaining out of order is highly ironical,” said paramedic posted at the hospital.
The machine, he said, is too old to work properly now and needs to be replaced.
However, the authorities, another paramedic said , are least bothered about improving the machinery at the healthcare facility.
“Whenever it goes defunct they get it repaired after months and that is how they run the affairs of the hospital,” he said.
The machine remains non-functional for months quite often not only it causes inconvenience to the poor patients visiting the facility but also tells upon their pockets as they are left with no option but to get the investigation done at private USG centers where they are charged huge amounts for the same.
The X-ray plant in the hospital is also too old and needs to be replaced. “USB of the X ray plant too is lying defunct for more than week. And it is only when power supply is on X ray is done at the hospital. It no more runs on the power generator as a result of which patients are forced to do the X ray at private centers,” said another official.
Chief Medical Officer, Anantnag , Dr Mukhtar admitted that the USG machine is defunct at the hospital but added that the same will be repaired by the private company under bio-medical equipment scheme.
“I have talked to them and they have assured me that the will bring a fresh probe for the machine within few days,” the CMO said.
Asked why new USG machine is not being procured for the hospital, the CMO said he has also submitted a requisition for the same.
