Railway hospital sans dental chair

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 12

The Railway subdivisional hospital is running without a dental chair, despite the fact that it has qualified staff and other wherewithal.

However, all this has been lying unused for months altogether for want of a dental chair. As a result, patients coming from far-flung areas have to return without getting proper treatment. Besides, the subdivisional hospital at Railway Colony, B block, is in a deplorable condition. At present, there is no head of the hospital and it is running at half of its sanctioned strength.

Opened for the railway employees, the Railway hospital can offer only first aid to railway passengers. The spacious hospital is running with four doctors against the sanctioned strength of eight. These four doctors include two general physicians, an eye surgeon and an orthopaedician.

Separate AC wards for men and women patients, which were approved five years ago, have not been constructed due to inexplicable technical reasons. The previous head of the hospital, Medical Superintendent, Dr SPS Sachdeva, was transferred to Kapurthala more than a month ago. No one has replaced him till now.

An ultrasound machine has also been lying unused for want of a radiologist. The situation has been the same for nearly five years. It is mandatory under the PNDT Act that the machine is operated only by a qualified radiologist. The hospital boasts of a laboratory, a self-sufficient operating theatre and an accident-relief medical van.

A patient, who was waiting for his turn at the hospital, said on condition of anonymity, many medicines were not available at the hospital.

However, the head of the hospital is authorised to procure medicines of a certain value from the open market. This facility cannot be made use of because there is no head of the hospital at present. Another patient said, “Patients of heart and other chronic ailments are also suffering on account of the expiry of a contract with a private local hospital on August 31 last year.”

Senior railway officials said the task of appointing doctors and other staff was taken care of by the head office in New Delhi. The local department could only forward the request of requisite doctors, other staff and medicines to the Divisional Office at Ferozepur, they added. They said arrangements would be made for providing a dental chair at the earliest.