Hospital gets 5 dialysis machines

Palampur, May 23

Sarbat Bhala, a Patiala-based charitable trust, donated five dialysis machines to the Palampur Civil Hospital. The trust is headed by Dr SP Singh Oberoi, an NRI settled in Dubai. Members of the trust visited the Civil Hospital on Sunday and announced to donate these machines for public welfare with a condition that the hospital would not charge over Rs 750 per dialysis from a patient.

Dr Vinay Mahajan, MS of the hospital, said machines were likely to be installed in June and thereafter the hospital would start providing the dialysis facility to kidney patients.

Earlier, this facility was available only at the IGMC, Shimla, and the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College at Tanda in the state. Patients visited Chandigarh and Jalandhar for dialysis.

He said 100 more beds were being added to the Civil Hospital. The state government had already approved a Rs 15-crore project for the construction of a new block of the hospital which will have a capacity to accommodate 100 more patients and six new operation theatres and labs.

Dr Mahajan said the hospital had already started laparoscopic surgery for the removal of gall bladders and kidney stones costing just Rs 5,000 per operation whereas in private hospitals outside the state patients were charged Rs 30,000 to 40,000 for single laparoscopic surgery.