Diagnostics ailing
Patients in around 500 government health facilities, including hospitals, of Himachal Pradesh are suffering due to lack of coordination between a private diagnostics service provider and the state government. Issues such as the quality of services provided by the lab and the pending payment of around Rs 50 crore should not have been allowed to drag on for nine months. These unresolved matters have forced the contracted company to suspend its pathology and X-ray services. Intriguingly, there seems to be no such dispute in Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti as the payments have been made in both districts.
Abject apathy in ensuring the smooth functioning of this crucial tool of healthcare goes contrary to the Congress government’s claims of prioritising medical services, including expanding diagnostic amenities, in the state ever since it assumed power in December 2022. In a big announcement made in February last year, Chief Minister Sukhu had promised that the block-level hospitals would be strengthened to ensure specialised care to the residents and that the health sector would neither lack funds nor facilities for doctors. Going an ambitious step further, a couple of days ago, he stated that the government would create a department of artificial intelligence — one of a kind in the country — for the benefit of the health sector. He also promised a world-class diagnostic lab at the national cancer centre planned to be set up in Hamirpur.
Big plans for the future are laudable and indeed a must. But considering the mismanagement in a small but vital section of healthcare like diagnostics, they do ring a bit hollow.
