Improve facilities or face agitation: KSU to Govt
NONGSTOIN: The concept of development being alien to Meghalaya is not a new phenomenon. 43 years after Statehood, Meghalaya has yet to make any concrete development in the field of health care, especially in all other parts of the State with the exception of Shillong, the capital city.
The plight of the rural populace vis-à-vis lack of or in some case total absence of any medical facilities is also quite a common feature of the Hill State.
A classic case of the State government’s plain apathy to the problems of the rural population is West Khasi Hills District, the largest district of Meghalaya having the third highest population after East Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills at around 2.95 lakh as per the latest estimate.
There is only one government-run hospital that caters to the needs of nearly three lakh people is being run by a woefully inadequate number of four doctors. There is not a single specialist doctor in the hospital to cater to the patients.
The Nongstoin Civil Hospital neither has proper medical equipment nor has enough staff strength to cater to the large population of the district. Around 150-200 out patients turn up at the hospital on any given day seeking medical attention but have to return disappointed in the absence of proper facilities and lack of management.
The four doctors have their hands full attending to the out patients as well as those who are admitted in the hospital, besides attending to emergencies which might occur at any time of the day.
Only one GVK EMRI 108 ambulance is stationed at the hospital to cater to the entire population.
Aggrieved by the plight of the sick and indisposed, the KSU Nongstoin Circle had on February 24 last, called on Meghalaya Health Minister A.L. Hek and submitted a memorandum urging his intervention into the matter to increase the infrastructure at Nongstoin Civil Hospital. Hek promised to look in to the matter at the earliest.
On Saturday last, the Union met the Superintendent of the civil hospital and learnt that not a single change had been seen in the day to day affairs of the hospital.
Feeling a sense of ‘betrayal’, the Union has now asked the State government to intervene into the matter and upgrade the facilities at the hospital at the earliest.
The Union also threatened to call agitation if their plea was disregarded.