Shortage of doctors, poor infra ail Chadhiar hospital

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, September 30

The Chadhiar Civil Hospital, 40 km from Palampur, looks after the medical needs of over 80,000 patients in the area every year.

But, even after crores being spent, hospital services continue to be far from satisfactory. Though upgraded to a civil hospital and sanctioned six posts of doctors, the hospital continues to function with just three doctors. As a result, people are forced to travel to Baijnath, Tanda, Palampur or as far as Punjab even for minor ailments.

Alleging poor services, residents of Chadhiar also staged a protest outside the hospital. “We want all vacant posts of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff to be filled as soon as possible,” a protester said.

In the absence of a gynaecologist, no deliveries or surgeries are performed at the hospital. Six gynaecological cases are daily referred to Tanda Medical College or Palampur Civil Hospital.

Though the hospital has an ultrasound scanning machine, it has not been used in the past five years.

A local resident told The Tribune that there was no provision to attend to emergencies at the hospital. “During an emergency, we are told to either go to the Tanda college or Palampur hospital. No senior officer listens to our grievances,” he said.

Kangra Chief Medical Officer Dr Gurdarshan Gupta said: “I am aware of the problems in Chadhiar hospital. I had requested the PWD to provide the estimate for the repair of hospital building but it has still not been sent to my office despite repeated requests. In the absence of an estimate, I can’t release funds.”

On the shortage of doctors, he said that the hospital had been upgraded just six months ago and once the infrastructure was repaired, new doctors would also be recruited.