One of the most ambitious plans of State Government and Health Department to provide free dialysis to the Below Poverty line (BPl) patients in all the district hospitals have been hit by unavailability of electricity. The issue has come in the way in as many as 10 districts of the State.
Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi on Sunday admitted to the problem popped up in several districts. He however said that efforts to resolve the power supply scenario were being made to get dialysis machines installed there too and start the service as soon as possible.
“We have got dialysis machines installed in some 14 districts so far in the State. Most of them are functional and the others are on the way of turning operational soon. It is true that we have not been able to get all the machines installed as per the deadline. Electricity supply has remained a major hurdle especially in Sahibganj area and around. But I am sure we will have all 24 district health centres equipped with dialysis machines by year-end,” said Chandravanshi.
Notably, the Government has planned to provide free dialysis service to all BPl patients and those having yearly income of less than Rs 72,000 in all the Governmenthospitals in the State, district hospitals to start with. First announced by Chief Minister Raghubar Das in June last year to have at least one dialysis machine in every district health centres by end of 2016 which was later revised by the department to complete the same by this year end, functional dialysis machines have still remained a nightmare even where they have been installed.
Keeping the hurdles in mind, the department had earlier this year once again revised the target and set the goal of installation of at least one dialysis machine in district hospitals of Bokaro, Chaibasa, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh and Dumka by this year-end apart from Ranchi and Jamshedpur where they are already in function in RIMS and MGMH respectively before the initiative was launched.
“The centres are to be set under PPP mode and we have to look after so many things like availability of doctors and technicians too. This is also a reason other than power supply in few of 14 district hospitals where installed machines have been facing problems in their uninterrupted operation. But we are sure of getting rid of all such hurdles and we will be able to provide free dialysis facilities to all district health centres in State by year end,” said Chandravanshi.