Expectant mothers caught in dilemma
SHILLONG: With Ganesh Das Hospital, the only Government hospital in the State catering to delivery cases, closing its doors to expectant mothers in the wake of the deadly fire that razed the labour room of the hospital on Monday, the poor patients are now at a loss as they cannot get admitted at the Hospital and have no resource to seek admission in the private hospitals in the city.
The management of Ganesh Das Hospital on Tuesday informed that die to the fire incident on Monday, new admissions pertaining to delivery cases have been temporarily suspended till further notice.
After Monday’s inferno at the delivery room of the Ganesh Das Hospital, six expecting mothers were admitted at NEIGRIHMS on Tuesday.
A majority of the expectant mothers in Khasi and Jaintia Hills depend solely on delivery cases at Ganesh Das Hospital which was established in 1937.
Though the construction of a new building adjacent to the Ganesh Das Hospital was taken up several years ago, the progress of the work has been going on at a snail’s pace.
As per reports, at least 40 babies are delivered on a daily basis and about 10 caesarean sections are conducted at Ganesh Das Hospital.
Majority of PHCs in Khasi-Jaintia Hills refer patients to Ganesh Das Hospital as those who man the PHCs fear there will be complications during delivery process since there are no equipments in the PHCs.
The rooms at Ganesh Das Hospital where the new-born babies are kept are highly congested and as per a recent report, three babies were made to sleep next to each other due to scarcity of space.
Earlier in July this year, during the visit of East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal to the Hospital, the issue of establishing a state-of-the-art hospital for mother and child care in Meghalaya was stressed upon.
“Some states like Madhya Pradesh have world class facilities for mother and child care. Our State needs to come up with similar facilities in the New Shillong Township since the facilities at Ganesh Das Hospital are over-stressed and the hospital is over-crowded,” Goyal had said.
However, no progress has yet been made by the Government on the proposed mother and child care hospital in the State.