Shillong Civil Hospital does not have a neurosurgeon
SHILLONG: Managing disasters in the State remains poor despite the frequent mock drills and every time a tragedy strikes, the reality comes to the fore.
With no facilities in rural hospitals, the seriously injured persons in the West Khasi Hills road accident were rushed to Shillong Civil Hospital and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).
An official with the West Khasi Hills district administration admitted that lack of well-equipped hospitals in districts and delayed response to accidents due to poor communication facilities often add to the number of casualties.
Since Shillong Civil Hospital lacked many facilities, some of the seriously injured were shifted to NEIGRIHMS.
West Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Arun Kumar Kembhavi said soon after the accident, he had to arrange ambulances to ferry the injured to hospitals.
Twenty of the injured people were brought to Shillong Civil Hospital from Nongstoin Civil Hospital. Ten of them were referred to NEIGRIHMS.
While other medical and emergency facilities were available, sources in Shillong Civil Hospital said it does not have a neurosurgeon for which patients with head injury were taken to NEIGRIHMS.
“Out of the 20 injured, 10 have suffered head injury and were referred to NEIGRIHMS. They cannot be treated here as they will have to be examined by a neurosurgeon,” hospital sources told reporters.
One of the relatives of an injured person said, “They left their village as early as 5 in the morning and the accident took place a few hours later.”
Another relative who was attending a patient undergoing some tests at the hospital said, “The truck was speeding and must have developed some glitches and collided. The truck was carrying people to a Church service at Nonglang.”