SHILLONG: Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek on Thursday asked Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to propose to the Union government to institute a high level inquiry to resolve the ongoing issue between the administration and cardiology department of NEIGRIHMS.
Associate member of UDP SK Sunn initiated a short duration discussion in the Assembly on the death of a woman from Mawphlang due to the delay in conducting cardiac surgery in NEIGRIHMS and wanted immediate intervention of the authorities.
The Mawphlang MLA said the state government must intervene into the ongoing tussle in the institute even as he lamented that Meghalaya till date does not have a medical council.
He said after DM Thappa joined as director in April 2017, the administration came up with a vacation schedule that left the Institute without doctors in critical departments because there was not enough faculty strength in many departments.
“This schedule would have been fine for an Institution with the full faculty strength but not NEIGRIHMS with its skeletal strength which adversely affected patient care”, he said.
The MLA also said the number of operating days was reduced to half and the list of patients needing surgery was very long due to the non-availability of anesthesiologists.
Even during the non- vacation period only two surgeries per day could be conducted. While number of major surgeries conducted during 2016-17 was 4,034, the number of major surgeries conducted dropped to 3,803 during 2017-18.
He said the post graduate programmes conducted by the institute have been de-recognized by the MCI. The major flaw pointed out by the MCI was that the Department of General Surgery and Anesthesia has not performed adequate number of operations. He also pointed out the director amalgamated the super specialty surgical branch with general surgery without taking into consideration that this is a violation of MCI guidelines.
Another grievance is that the assessment promotion scheme not been implemented.
He also expressed concern over the fact that the graduates passing their MBBS from NEIGRIHMS have to register with Assam medical council in the absence of Meghalaya medical council and moreover, the governing council of the Institute has also remained dormant for more than four years.
Replying to the discussion, Hek said that the inquiry committee can have senior officers from state as well as the central government besides experts from any big medical institute be it AIIMS Delhi, Medanta and others.
Earlier, Hek said there is an executive committee for NEIGRIHMS which is chaired by the Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the important function of the committee is to supervise the overall administration and management of the institute besides considering and approving the budget estimates.
He said the last time, such an executive committee was reconstituted was in June and meetings of the EC were never called or informed to the state government.
Stating that the matter pertaining to the death of the woman in the institute was taken up with the former Union health minister JP Nadda to intervene into the matter, Hek added that he and the chief minister had already apprised Nadda on the state of affairs in the institute.
Informing that the CBI too has conducted search in the institute, he added that the government is awaiting further reports on the matter while adding that the government is closely watching the situation.
Congress legislator PT Sawkmie said NEIGRIHMS is a blessing for the people of the state but several issues have cropped up in the institute since last 2 years due to the mismanagement of the director.
Another Congress MLA George Lyngdoh said the situation is embarrassing while informing that the NEIGRIHMS does not even accept the blood donor card issued by the Meghalaya Blood Transfusion Council.
KHNAM’s Adelbert Nongrum demanded that action should be taken against the director while HSPDP MLA Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar said many people from rural areas are reluctant to visit NEIGRIHMS as they think that it is big hospital and the treatment here would be expensive.
