Posts of doctor vacant in Nurpur hospital

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, June 15

The Health Department has sanctioned only four posts of doctor (medical officers), besides posts of paramedical staff for the local Civil Hospital after June 6, 2018, when its upgrade to a 200-bed facility was notified.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had during a public meeting at Nurpur in March 2018 announced the upgrade of the hospital from 100 beds to 200 beds. Interestingly, the previous Virbhadra Singh government had sanctioned 18 posts in February 2016.

This lone specialty hospital in the lower Kangra area has become a referral hospital, as most of the posts of specialist are lying vacant for a long time.

Intriguingly, the state government has approved the post of Medical Superintendent to run the hospital administration three years after the notification of the hospital upgrade. As per information, posts of physician, gynaecologist, radiologist and ophthalmologist are vacant.

The hospital caters to the needs of thousands of patients from lower Kangra areas such as Nurpur, Jawali, Fatehpur and Indora and neighbouring Bhatiyat subdivision of Chamba district.

The ultrasound machine in the hospital is lying idle in the absence of a radiologist. The vacant posts of gynaecologist and radiologist have added to the woes of the expectant mothers, as they are forced to take costly medical care in private hospitals at Pathankot. Patients are also being referred to the Tanda medical college in Kangra. In the absence of physicians, the hospital’s ICU has been closed and critical patients, besides those with chronic ailments, are not getting proper treatment.

Resentment is brewing among the residents of lower Kangra areas against the utter neglect of the hospital. As per official information, only one anaesthetist, one ENT specialist, one paediatrician, one orthopaedic surgeon, two general surgeons and eight MBBS doctors have been posted at the hospital. Before Covid-19 outbreak, the hospital had recorded the second highest (2.97 lakh) annual footfall in the OPDs in Kangra district during 2019-20.

Gurdarshan Gupta, Chief Medical Officer, Kangra, said that he had submitted a detailed report of the existing status of vacant posts to the Health Department.