The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

Local civil hospital in poor shape
By Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Dec 2 — While on the one hand the city is emerging as one of the leading health centres in the north, at the same time, health services appear to have taken a turn for the worse. While earlier, the city was known for its two leading medical colleges and hospitals attached to them, over a period of time, a number of private hospitals with specialised facilities have also come up.

Government-run medical services, however, appear to be deteriorating with most of them either short of funds, staff or space. The local Civil Hospital stands in a dilapidated condition in total contrast to other private and charitable hospitals.

The Civil Hospital is yet to have its own building. It was set up in 1973 with a 100-bed capacity. In 1989, it was moved to its present building which was supposed to be the nurses’ hostel. Almost three decades have passed but the capacity of the hospital remains the same. The 100-bed capacity might have been adequate in 1973, when the population of the city was less than 10 lakh but not now when the population had crossed 30 lakh.

Although the government plans to construct a new buiding for the hospital, the project, which was cleared reportedly in the early nineties, is yet to take off. The Rs 5 crore project involved constructing a 200-bed hospital, with all modern facilities. However, latest reports suggest that the strength of the hospital has been reduced to 150 only.

A senior doctor claimed that the hospital had every speciality. He disclosed that on an average, 450 patients checked into the OPD daily. About 100 major surgeries including total hip joint replacement were performed at the hospital, besides hundreds of other minor surgeries. The cost of a major surgery in the hospital was Rs 500, while for a minor surgery, it was Rs 350.

The hospital also has a blood bank with the latest facilities. Various facilities including Ultrasound, X-ray were available. Against the 100-bed capacity, hospital officials claimed that about 120 patients were usually admitted to the hospital. Moreover, the hospital provides free medicines.

Despite all the facilities, most people in the city prefer to visit the private hospitals and nursing homes, which have mushroomed in a big way during past one decade. This is also one of the reasons attributed for slowing down of the project for the new hospital.

The two leading medical college hospitals, Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMC) and the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMC) share the maximum number of patients in the city. While both the hospitals claim to be charitable institutions with government grants, the charges are in no way less than private hospitals.

Convention at DMCH
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 2 — Dayanand Medical College and Hospital will organise the National Convention of Medical Library Association of India from December 4 to 6, 2000, at the Dumra Auditorium of the DMCH. The aim behind organising the convention is to update the knowledge of people dealing with the management of libraries and to set standards for the resources sharing amongst the libraries and information centres for the future.

The sub-themes for the convention will be the resource sharing and health sciences libraries, influence of modern technologies in sharing of information, networking and health sciences libraries, changing pattern of health science information, methods of resource sharing, and management of health Information and their dissemination. Delegates will also be reading their papers during the convention.