Health officials clueless on defunct equipment

SHILLONG: Senior Health officials of the State seem to be either ignorant of the varied problems including shortage of medicines and equipments in Shillong Civil Hospital or are not concerned at all despite being reminded by none other than Health Minister AL Hek.
On Monday, media persons brought to the notice of the Health Minister the non-functioning electro-meter used for treating cancer patients at the Hospital which has been lying defunct for almost two months. The Minister spoke to the head of Directorate of Health Services (DHS) on the complaint only to get the reply that the official was not aware of the matter.
The Director’s reply directly contradicts the stand of health officials in the Shillong Civil Hospital who had confirmed that they had taken up the matter with the DHS – both in writing and oral form – on January 28 requesting for a replacement of the electro meter.
The DHS’s reply that they were not aware of the matter indicates lack of update on the part of the higher ups on matters of importance.
Hek, meanwhile, assured that he would expedite the replacement of the defective electro meter.
Another question posed to the Minister was on the recent reports in a section of the media about destroying of expired medicines worth Rs.4 crore by DHS at a time when the Government run health centers are facing shortage of medicines.
After the request from media when the Health Minister sought a reply from the Mission Director, NRHM on the matter, the reply was that there was no destruction of the expired medicines.
However, Hek assured that he would seek a report on the matter and the details in the report will be divulged to the media.
The Health Minister further assured to look into the non- functioning of Wahkaji PHC in West Khasi Hills.
“I am calling a high level review meeting of health officials on February 12 to discuss all these issues with an aim to find solutions, he said.