Commissioner Kumaun region, Rajiv Rautela conducted an unannounced  inspection of Jawaharlal Nehru District Hospital in Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district on Wednesday during which   many irregularities came to the fore, prompting the commissioner to order to the officers concerned to set things right immediately.                          

Things that the commissioner saw during the inspection were related to the poor hygiene of the hospital, over-crowded registration centre and promotion of private medicines in the premises  among others. Angry over promotional materials found on display and asked for their immediate removal from the hospital premises. He also looked annoyed as he saw the patients standing in a serpentine queue, waiting for their turn for registration. The commissioner instructed the officers concerned to make registration easy for the patients. He suggested  increasing  the number of the registration counters for the purpose. Further, he instructed the staffers of the hospital to put up boards giving information about the availability of the doctors aside from informing them which doctor they should go to, given the nature of their ailments. 

He to his utter annoyance found the toilets in a bad state and ordered the staffers concerned to clean them regularly.  He also stressed on the Caesarean section to be completed   in 10 days. He ,further, said that strict actions must be  taken against the people found smoking in the hospital premises.

Taking the irregularities  found during his inspection of the district hospital seriously, the commissioner instructed  the chief development officer and additional district magistrate to inspect the hospital once a week. Furthermore, he asked the hospital in-charge to study how the private hospitals run. He said that such a study might help  them improve the systems and make them at par with the private facilities.

Among the senior officers who accompanied the commissioner during the latter’s inspection of the state-run facility were the district magistrate, Niraj Khairwal, Additional District Magistrate Pratap Singh Shah, chief medical officer Dr Shailja Bhatt and Deputy District Magistrate Yukta Mishra.