The State director general of health Dr D S Rawat’s assurance during his recent visit to Haridwar to provide 700 doctors is unlikely to solve the problem plaguing the district with many issues remaining unresolved for long. To mention a few, Nagar Nigam is yet to clear allotment of land required for constructing a 50- bed hospital in northern part of the city and the ESIC Hospital in SIIDCUl area is yet to see the light of the day despite over a decade having passed since SIIDCUl came up in Haridwar.
Rawat had assured the district medical authorities that very soon 700 doctors would be provided to the state. Besides, the proposal for the formation of Uttarakhand Medical Service Commission had been sent to the Centre, he had said. He had also directed the post- mortem unit to be shifted to Roshanabad and had stressed on the appointment of a doctor on contractual basis for Mela and district hospital. He, however, had said at the same time that the deployment of a doctor on the contractual basis would have to be cleared by the state government level.
Despite these slew of assurances the medical fraternity of the district is far from reassured as they insists that the matters pending for long must be resolved first to help the medical service improve.
The important matter regarding the opening of 50- bed hospital in the northern part of the city has been hanging fire for long with Nagar Nigam and district health department continuing to pass the buck to each other. Earlier, the government had approved a proposal for the construction of a ten- bed hospital and later it had been changed to go for a 50- bed hospital. Speaking to The Pioneer, PMS Mahila hospital Dr Arti Dhaundiyal said, “We have demanded the land required for the hospital to be allotted time and again. But things have not progressed a bit.”
However, Haridwar mayor Manoj Garg said the health department should have presented a concrete plan before demanding the land allotment. “The land which was demanded earlier was instantly cleared by Nagar Nigam. We would, however, discuss the next plan during the next board meeting of the civic body,” he added.
Notably, the issue of the hospital dominated the campaigning of the last Assembly election with both Congress and BJP making it an issue to strike a chord with the people.