Health Minister visits Civil Hospital, makes ‘old’ announcements again

Again during his visit to the Civil Hospital, Health Minister Balbir Singh made the same old announcements of making the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital operational and starting the neonatal intensive care by January 2025.

In 2023, the minister had made similar announcements at three stances, but these have failed to become reality. In September, October and then in December 2023, he had announced to make the ICU of the Civil Hospital operational but the situation remains the same till date.

In June this year, and again on Monday, he announced to make it operational during his visit to the Civil Hospital.

The ICU, along with ventilators, was set up during the Covid-19 pandemic and was made operational by deputing staff but as the situation normalised, the employees were sent back to their place of postings and the ICU had been left non-operational and ventilators are gathering dust for want of trained staff.

In September last year, a team of Health Department officials, including Dr Hitinder Kaur, Director, Health Services, visited the hospital for making assessment of the setting up of the ICU. Experts from the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) also visited the hospital to take stock of the situation. But the ICU is lying non-functional so far due to want of staff.

He inspected the hospital and had a word with patients to get feedback about its services.

Commenting on the issue of a medicine scam worth crores at Aam Aadmi Clinics, the complaint of which has been submitted by a NGO, the minister said the Vigilance Bureau was conducting the investigation, and he could comment only after the arrival of the report.

“Strict action will be taken against the guilty. Whoever misuses public money will not be spared,” he said.

Vigilance inquiry is pending in the case where medicine bills worth crores were got passed from the government while no medicine reached Aam Aadmi Clinics.

“We are regularly in touch with patients and calls are being made to them to get their feedback and 98 per cent of the patients are satisfied about the treatment given at Aam Aadmi Clinics,” he said.

Repeating another old promise, the minister said the shortage of doctors and specialists at Civil Hospital would be overcome within 15 days so that patients need not to go to other cities for treatment and state-of-the-art facilities would be provided here.

“The hospital will be upgraded by January and patients will get best healthcare facilities under one roof. Feedback from them will be sought on a regular basis so that shortcomings could be overcome as early as possible,” he said.

He said the Health Department would train two million students from schools and colleges to ensure that every Class XII student or graduate was equipped with knowledge in detecting larvae and providing first aid to those in need.

“Starting next year, the department will educate two million students, including those in senior secondary classes and colleges, on identifying dengue larvae and contributing to community prevention efforts. Students will also learn to provide first aid assistance to those in need,” he said. Additionally, discussions are on with medical colleges and other nursing institutions to collaborate on training around 50,000 medical or nursing students, focusing on the early detection of lifestyle disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and strokes — all of which are classified as non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The minister emphasised that early detection of the NCDs would help reveal which areas in the state were facing specific health challenges.