SHILLONG: The Opposition parties on Tuesday expressed concerns about the pathetic state of affairs of the health care facilities in the State.
Participating in the discussion on a motion on the style and functioning of the State Health department, UDP legislator Paul Lyngdoh observed that there was a need to improve the ‘health’ of the Health department.
“There is no sense of direction in the functioning of the department at present. I believe we first need to improve the health of the department before it gets involved in the task of providing health care services to the people of the State,” Lyngdoh said.
He said that the Shillong Civil Hospital lacks important facilities like dialysis and MRI machines which are very crucial in the present world.
“If this is the status of the main hospital in the State capital then one can easily understand the condition of the health care centres in the district headquarters and other parts of the State,” the UDP legislator said.
He also lamented that the Government hospitals do not have specialist doctors.
“People come to the hospital with various kinds of ailments. Therefore, we need doctors who are specialized in treating these ailments,” Lyngdoh said, while also pointing out the issue of lack of medicine stocks in the government hospitals.
He also said that there is acute shortage of manpower in the government hospitals especially in the laboratories and the blood banks.
“We have found that there are no blood banks in almost all the hospitals in the district headquarters. I remember
that the NGOs from Jaintia Hills had held agitations demanding the setting up of a blood bank in Jowai,” Lyngdoh said.
He questioned the Government for failing to set up trauma centres along the national highways in the State.
“The trauma centres would be crucial in case of any accident on the highways,” Lyngdoh said.
Independent legislator John Leslee Sangma raised the issue of lack of staff in the Tura Government hospital and the non-functional CT scan machine in the hospital.
“Despite having an ICU, the doctors are not able to operate many of the equipments in the hospital. I am told there are doctors and nurses who are presently undergoing training in NEIGRIHMS,” he said, while adding that he was hopeful that once these doctors and nurses complete their training, the ICU in Tura Civil Hospital will become fully operational.
UDP legislator Titosstarwell Chyne drew the House’s attention to the fact that several doctors who have completed their MBBS courses under the State quota have failed to return to serve in the State.
With the State facing shortage of doctors, the failure of these MBBS students to return and serve in the State has further aggravated the situation, Chyne said.
“I strongly believe that the Government should take stringent action against those doctors who failed to return to the State,” Chyne said.
In reply, Health and Family Welfare Minister A.L. Hek said that the Government would take pro-active steps to ensure that health care services in the State are improved.
“We are trying to bring all the new latest testing equipments to cater to the needs of the patients who come to government hospitals for treatment,” he said.
Hek admitted that the Government was facing huge shortage of doctors and indicated that the department would take all possible steps to ensure that students who have pursue their MBBS studies under the State quota return back to the State.
The Minister, while speaking on the need to set up more blood banks in the State, informed that the blood bank in Jowai was ready and the department was awaiting certification from the Centre for making it operational.
He also admitted that the CT scan machine in Tura Civil Hospital had become redundant.
