NEIGRIHMS hospital and it’s sickening services
Editor,
Is NEIGRIHMS not lauded as the AIIMS of the Northeast? Is it not a ray of hope for the nearly 4 million people in Meghalaya? The relatives of the sick, even from Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, are seen standing in long queues in this hospital. They all expect the healing touch of proficient doctors and the warmth of the administrative staff and management.
However, beneath the impressive façade of the hospital lies a sickening reality. While there are many departments that have virtually left innumerable citizens in the lurch, today I will focus on the nephrology department.
The inadequate dialysis unit in NEIGRIHMS has virtually plunged many into despair. Patients with critical kidney issues coming from far-flung areas of the Northeast have reportedly been greeted with the cold shoulder of the unavailability of the dialysis service. “No slots for a week,” the patient is told on his face. Is it not a heartless retort?
Just imagine how you would feel if you were a patient with an advanced stage of kidney failure waiting for a long time for dialysis. One distressed patient burst out in anger: “A nurse in the department told us to go to SUPER CARE for the job. It deeply offended us because private hospitals in the town, including Guwahati, have literally already robbed us of whatever money we had.”
In another instance, a family with a patient who had undergone extensive treatment at CMC Vellore, reached Shillong. As the dialysis was due, without going home, the relatives had taken the patient directly to NEIGRIHMS. They were told no slots were available. Having no option, they humbly requested the slot for the next day. To their disappointment, the staff said that slot is not available until the 4th day. When the relatives requested to book for the fifth day, they were again told to come and check whether the slot would be available on that day. Out of desperation, when the relative sought an appointment on the fifth day, they were informed that all slots were full. This is just one example I am citing here.
One cannot help but wonder how on earth the hospital is being touted as the AIIMS of the Northeast. Is management not aware that delaying dialysis may lead to severe health complications affecting vital organs like the heart, lungs, and nervous system and accumulation of toxins? Is it not a matter of life and death? The increasing number of kidney patients, contrasted with the limited dialysis capacity, paints a grim picture of neglect and utter failure at NEIGRIHMS.
Why hasn’t it dawned on the management of NEIGRIHMS yet that “expanding” the dialysis facility is long overdue, given the number of patients relying on the hospital of national repute? This stagnation in service gives rise to an unnerving question: Are the authorities waiting for a “crisis to turn into a catastrophe?” Yes, countless families have long been experiencing catastrophes and nightmares! But who will bother to find out how? Who will express genuine words of compassion to the aggrieved families who are already afflicted by poverty? Who will come forward to put pressure on the government to “overhaul the hospital” and its management? I am very worried about the state of the health system in Meghalaya and the North East and if there is complicity between the government run and private hospitals. Concerned citizens should take a deep breath and raise questions because this continued silence might take away your life and mine!
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali
Shillong
Don’t trash NCERT textbooks; adapt them
Editor,
The headlines, ‘NCERT textbooks by MBOSE must not omit culture, history of Meghalaya’ (ST Dec.15, 2023) is a welcome stand taken by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). I’ve been reluctant to comment on the introduction of NCERT textbooks (having done so once long ago in one of my letters), especially when lobbyists (not critics) of the likes of Mukul Sangma and others who give such shallow and immature reasons against the idea. Possibly, they do not have the knowledge and make such remarks that the public or loyalists fall for! When KSU states, “it’s a good beginning,” I’m certain they’ve done their homework on the matter.
Now let me be so bold as to shake the hardened mindsets of the readers! NCERT textbooks covering all subjects up to class X, barring Social Science, can easily be introduced with effect from the new term 2024 – 25 without any procrastination. Social Science syllabus can be adopted and adapted to meet the ‘Culture & History’ of Meghalaya and other North Eastern states. The state has the freedom to include local history and leave out the irrelevant! The school education then is at par with all other subjects with the rest of the country. Period!
Now for the sensitive and sticky issue that might not go down with the general public. It is my intention to provoke readers to deeper reflection and introspection on the issue of Hindi in schools. May I submit Hindi be taught from class1 onwards, maybe as a 3rd language. I recommend this because it’s time we do not disadvantage our students when it comes to job opportunities in the central government offices of the state and in the country. May I ask readers to do their research on the number of locals employed and give their findings through this column of The Shillong Times.
I regret that I cannot read nor understand the language, let alone speak it fluently. Two of my son’s went to Delhi for their graduation and Hindi was compulsory to obtain a degree. One son didn’t get his graduation certificate till he passed the Hindi course. He had to take tuition and in the fourth year he passed and only then did he receive his B.A certificate. Job opportunities today in central government establishments have Hindi as a compulsory paper. It’s only going to get tougher and the proficiency of Hindi is going to get higher. Hence, we need to think ahead, beginning from now.
Yours etc.,
Kevin Phillips
Shillong – 19
CJI disappoints on Article 370
Editor,
This is with reference to P. Sudhir’s article, “CJI has belied the hopes he raised at the time of joining” (ST, December 15, 2023). Some months ago, the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud pointed out that India needed institutions of empathy more than institutions of eminence. According to the Cambridge dictionary the word ’empathy’ means the ability to share or experience by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation. Now, if I imagine what it would be like if I were a Kashmiri and try to share his feelings as my own then how would I feel after the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of Article 370. Honestly, had my state been divided into two union territories, it would have made me sad.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata