St Mary’s Hospital gets Char Dham Yatra blues

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, June 20

Senior officials of the Government St Mary’s Hospital, in an order released today, directed the staff posted here to leave for Rudraprayag on Char Dham Yatra duty.

This has worsened the condition in the already understaffed hospital and is causing great deal of inconvenience to the people of Mussoorie.

The hospital has been facing a shortage of staff since independence as most of the posts have not been filled till the present day. Poor patients from Mussoorie and adjacent areas have to get themselves treated at private clinics, which is an expensive proposition for many.

Dr Ashish Agarwal, who was appointed at Government St Mary’s Hospital besides his service at Prem Nagar Community Health Centre, had been asked to visit it three days a week. Surprisingly, now Dr Agarwal has been directed to leave Mussoorie and take charge of the government health centre at Rudraprayag. He will be serving at Rudraprayag till July 11.

Besides, the ultra sound and X-ray machine that were bought spending several lakhs a couple of years ago, are lying idle due to absence of a radiologist at the Government St Mary’s Hospital .

Dr SK Jha was appointed as radiologist in Mussoorie but within a span of four hours of his joining, he was attached to the Doon Hospital while he is receiving salary from the Mussoorie account, without visiting the hospital even once. He was then appointed in Mussoorie following promotion and was also assigned the emergency duties and post-mortems examinations while serving in Mussoorie.

When contacted, senior officials from the Health Department said Dr Jha’s services were needed more in Doon hospital and hence he was attached there.

The residents, irked at the non-availability of a radiologist, said the town witnessed several accident cases on regular basis and a need for a radiologist was much more here than any other place. Hence, a permanent radiologist must be appointed without any further delay.

They questioned that if the radiologist was required at Dehradun, he should have been transferred and a requirement of another one placed immediately. Under the present circumstances, till the time Dr Jha is drawing his salary from Mussoorie, another radiologist cannot be appointed here, much to the disgust of the residents.

Notably, Doon Hospital has been converted into a medical college and now any radiologist appointed there would have to be of either of the rank of a professor or assistant professor and not a diploma holder. The senior officials are of the view that Dr Jha is also a visiting faculty at Coronation Hospital and as he had immense work load, he was unable to visit the Mussoorie hospital.

When contacted, Dr Vinod Nautiyal, Superintendent of St Mary’s Hospital, said Dr Jha was appointed at Mussoorie but had not served the hospital since his appointment.

Meanwhile, the hapless citizens had nothing to do but to wait for “acchey din” (good times) to come, a resident said.