Neuro dept in Tanda hospital a one-man show

Ashok Raina

KANGRA, MAY 31

The neurosurgery department at the Rs 150-crore superspecialty hospital at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, has become a one-man show. The government has become a mute spectator to the trauma faced by the neurosurgeon and the patients.

The hospital was inaugurated on March 1, 2014 with superspecialised facilities such as oncology, cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery, neurology, nephrology, neurosurgery, gastroenterology, cardiology and urology.

More than a year of its inauguration, no such facility is available for the needy on ground.

Dr Janak Raj, a neurosurgeon, was deputed here from the Indira Gandhi medical College (IGMC), Shimla, on December 1, 2014.

He said he has done 90 neurosurgeries during the last six months and 620 patients have been attended in the emergency, 272 neuro patients were admitted and 635 patients were attended at the OPD while 72 brain and spinal surgeries were performed almost single handedly.

He said he wanted to serve the people of all six districts of the state but unfortunately he was without any support. So much so that he had to himself shave a patient before surgery. Even the wards for the patients are yet to get ready.

There was none to support and he had to attend emergencies every second night without any assistance, Dr Raj lamented.

He suggested that if the doctors from rural areas were deputed in his department on rotation basis, he could train them in at least better identification of referral patients and they could help run the department.

Principal of DRPGMC Dr Anil Chauhan said Dr Raj was also deputed at the Military Hospital to operate upon an injured Jawan. Due to timely intervention by the neurosurgeon, the patient recovered from paralysis.

The government should come forward to help the hospital, he added.