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Patiala: Rajindra hospital’s super-specialty centre misses yet another deadline
On January 9, principal of Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Dr Harjinder Singh, had met senior officials of the Union health ministry and the latter had directed the state government to ensure that all departments of the centre are functional by the deadline.
Despite the Union health ministry’s orders to get the super-specialty centre at Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital functional by mid-February, the hospital authorities and state health department have missed yet another deadline.
On January 9, principal of Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, Dr Harjinder Singh, had met senior officials of the Union health ministry and the latter had directed the state government to ensure that all departments of the centre are functional by the deadline.
An official, on condition of anonymity, said, “It will take a few more months to start providing services at all departments of the centre. Presently, there are just three super specialist doctors at the centre. The rest have refused to join the hospital.”
“A doctor earns around ₹3-4 lakh per month at a private institution while government is paying only ₹1.75 lakh. As a result, they are not motivated to join here. Also, the government sector lacks in terms of infrastructure and supporting staff and there is delay in promotions. These doctors get promotions after seven years of service in the private sector while the waiting period is much more in the government sector,” the official added.
“Besides, the state government has not hired the paramedical staff to run the departments and interior work of the operation theatres is yet to be completed,” he added.
The ₹150-crore project was initiated in 2013 by the Union ministry of health and family welfare under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. In February 2014, former Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had laid the foundation of the centre.
Under the project, 14 departments — including cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, cardiotherapy and vascular surgery, neurosurgery, neonatology, paediatric surgery, endocrinology, medical and surgical gastroenterology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, nephrology and neurology — were be established at the centre.
The centre was initially supposed to start all services from September, 2018. Later, January 1, 2019 was set as the deadline, which again shifted to July 1. The government, had then, decided to make it functional from September 1, 2019.
The centre was inaugurated on November 5 last year by state medical education minister OP Soni and Patiala MP (member Parliament) Preneet Kaur. However, only the ground floor of the building is being used so far and the other five floors are unused.
And now, the centre had directed the authorities to start services by February 15 this year. However, the authorities have failed to meet the deadline yet again.
Even three months after the centre’s inauguration, only the urology, neurosurgery and cardiothoracic departments are functional and that too without any emergency, in-patient department (IPD), intensive care unit (ICU) or intensive coronary care unit (ICCU) services.
Dr Harjinder said, “The state health department has advertised regarding vacancies for the posts of super-specialist doctors. And additional work at the operation theatres is also pending. We have asked the builder to complete work at the earliest. However, he has not even start the work so far.”
“Two days back, a high-level meeting was called in Chandigarh in this regard, where the secretary medical education had also directed the builder to start remaining work of the operation theatres soon,” he added.
