At a time when the State is boasting of providing free medical services under one roof in the Government hospitals, the ultrasound machine installed in the diagnostic centre of the Baleswar District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) is lying defunct for over two weeks.
As a results, the poor patients are at the receiving end with they being forced to conduct the ultrasound test outside at higher costs.
Most importantly, the ICU patients whose mobility is restricted to the DHH also are deprived of the most emergency diagnosis service due to apathy of the authorities who don’t seem to care two hoots about repairing the
machine. Hospital’s administrative officer B Dash said the machine went out of order and experts have been asked to fix the glitch.
According to sources, ever since the DHH has been upgraded to a medical college and hospital (MCH), there has been a steep rise in the number of patients to the hospital. Not only the patients of the district, patients from neighbouring districts as well as States also are coming to the hospital for treatment. On an average about 1,000-1,200 patients are visiting the hospital daily for various ailments.
The hospital is equipped with all diagnostic facilities, including ultrasound, MRI and CT scan machines, operated through private agencies. Notably, these services are rendered free of cost for the patients.
The ultrasound tests are made for about 30-35 patients a day using the facility in the DHH, while about 70-80 patients remain in waiting list for their turns.
Sources said a patient (except ICU patient) has to wait for about 45-60 days to get his/her turn to avail the free facility in the hospital.
As the machine has gone unserviceable since July 22, in some cases, patients have to fall back on private facilities to get the tests done. Meanwhile, the denizens of the district have demanded immediate repair of the machine and resumption of the service.