District hospital in dilapidated state
Rautahat, February 24
Lack of permanent and capable doctors in Rautahat has left the district hospital in a sorry state.
Though the hospital has 50 beds, the number of service seekers has gone down heavily due to lack of quality service.
The hospital currently has four doctors on contract basis although it needs four doctors on a permanent basis.
The health facility has not had a single permanent doctor after senior District Public Health Officer Raj Kishor Pandit and Dr Krishna Shah were transferred to other districts a month ago.
Prabin Jha, emergency ward in-charge and health assistant at the health facility, said distribution of necessary drugs at the hospital, besides administrative work, had been adversely affected due to the absence of senior public health officers and medical superintendents.
Though the health facility has managed free distribution of as many as 42 different types of drugs, it has been facing drug crunch of late. Jha complained that the hospital also lacked many life-saving drugs. “Even patients admitted at the emergency ward are compelled to manage drugs from outside,” he said.
Doctors Bikram Mahato, Sandip Sah, Rijwan Ansari and Yasmin Prabin have been working at the health facility with a six-month contract. After the expiry of their contracts, it will take the hospital authorities a long to deploy new doctors.
A large number of patients have no option but to reach Birgunj, Bharatpur, Kathmandu and various Indian cities to avail themselves of health care services.
Hospital staff complained that they lacked various surgical equipment as well as warm clothes for new mothers and their kids.
“Various health education programmes in the health facility have also been affected,” they complained.
Meanwhile, State minister for Health Mohamad Mustak Alam rued the deteriorating condition of the health facility. He pledged to do his best for the hospital’s uplift.