Amritsar, September 9
The city’s Government Medical College is perhaps the only medical college in the country where one can find a 100-year-old copy of The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal. Once a prestigious college and hospital, the institute is today dying a slow death for want of attention.
For almost two decades, the heritage building of the college has been in a state of disrepair while successive governments looked the other way. Once a nursery of medical stalwarts (many among them played a key role in raising institutes like the PGI and medical colleges in neighbouring states), the Amritsar medical college is ailing from staff shortage.
“Not because there are no people available, but because for 10 years the government did not promote those who were eligible. The departmental promotion committee met but once since 1998. The Punjab Public Service Commission is now making appointments after 12 years,” said Dr Dinesh Kumar, general secretary of the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association, Amritsar unit.
Both teaching as well as healthcare delivery to thousands of patients who throng the hospital each day is suffering and no one has been hauled up or held responsible for the same.
The entire 140-acre complex is in urgent need of repair with water seeping into walls. The building which houses the women and child hospital is the worst-hit. The building was inaugurated in 1891 at Queen Victoria’s jubilee-year celebrations. It seems little has been done to maintain the building since then.
Expecting mothers are seen lying in dark, dingy rooms with roofs leaking. The hospital doctors rolled out names of VIPs whose spouses had chosen the few “special rooms” for delivery. Ironically, not one had cared to enquire or improve the plight of ordinary patients.
New equipment has not been procured. Till recently, the 950-bedded hospital campus did not have a CT scan, which is now functional in the public-private partnership mode. An MRI machine is said to be on its way. The radiotherapy facility was opened only last year. The college authorities do not have enough powers to spend the money the college gets as grants.
“Even to buy oxygen cylinders, a tedious procedure is folowed and there have been days when there is no oxygen available in the hospital,” said a doctor pleading anonymity.
The appaling apathy would have continued had it not been for Medical Council of India (MCI) teams inspecting the college highlighting the dismal situation.
“But the MCI team tends to overdo things. Our building was made during the British
period. There are certain changes cannot be made — like partitioning the rooms and air-conditioning. If an old wooden table is serving well, why should the MCI insist on us having a new one with a tile top,” points out a college functionary.
The college administration, egged on by the panicky government, is now making some changes in order to meet the MCI conditions and save the MBBS batches from de-recognition.
“Funds are being gathered from central schemes to carry out repairs and to set up facilities. We are trying our best to undo in a few months the damage that has been done over decades,” said the secretary, medical education, Jagjit Puri.
Hopes are also pinned on the Rs 140-crore grant expected from the Prime Minister’s health scheme.
To be continued
