Patients are facing problems as the only radiologist posted in Doon hospital has gone on leave. The lone radiologist Dr Yatindra Singh is on leave till January 10.
In his absence, the patients visiting the radiology department for various diagnostic tests are facing problems. The biggest Government hospital of the State has another radiologist Dr S K Jha, but his services are available for only three days in a week. Dr Jha is posted at the Coronation Hospital here but in view of the huge patient load the health department has asked him to visit Doon hospital on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Now with Dr Yatindra Singh going on a leave, the hospital would be bereft of services of any radiologist on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. More than 150 patients visit the department daily for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT), Ultrasound, X ray, digital X ray, mammography and bone marrow densitometry.
When contacted, the Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of Doon hospital Dr R S Aswal told The Pioneer that he has requested the health directorate to attach Dr Jha to Doon hospital for all days of the week till Dr Singh comes back from his leave. He said that the patients visiting the Coronation Hospital would have to come to Doon Hospital for any radiology related tests during this period.
It is worth mentioning here that Dr Singh too was transferred to the base hospital Srinagar last year but since he is the only expert available with the department for MRI, he was shifted back to Doon Hospital. The radiologists are much in demand across the gGovernment hospitals of the State as only 28 of them are serving in State health services.
The Doon Hospital which is the biggest Government hospital of the State is suffering under acute shortage of radiologists. The hospital data suggests that the radiology department of the hospital does about 150-200 X rays, 100-150 Ultra Sounds, 45 CT scans and 25-30 MRI daily apart from some bone marrow densitometry and mammography tests. The hospital authorities admit that considering huge load of patients the department should have at least four radiologists.