Chowari Civil Hospital sans X-ray, ultrasound facilities

Several posts of doctor and a radiologist are vacant in the 50-bed Civil Hospital at Chowari in the Bhattiyat Assembly constituency of Chamba district for the past several years. The hospital has 12 sanctioned posts but the Health and Family Welfare Department has filled only eight. The department had ordered the posting of an ophthalmologist, dermatologist and an anaesthetist in the hospital last month but they were yet to join duty.

The hospital lacks important healthcare facilities such as X-ray and ultrasound machines, causing a lot of hardships to patients. As per information, an obsolete X-ray machine has been lying defunct for the six months while an ultrasound sonography machine is non-functional in the absence of a radiologist. There are no private ultrasound or X-ray centres at Chowari, forcing patients either to travel to Nurpur in Kangra district or Pathankot in Punjab to get tests done.

The situation increases cost for patients as tests in private centres are expensive while this facility in the Civil Hospital is available free of cost for expectant mothers under the Centrally-sponsored Janani Shishu Surksha Yojana. This scheme has been badly affected in the absence of a radiologist in the hospital. Expectant mothers are forced to bear the high cost of ultrasound tests in private facilities. The Health Department has posted a gynaecologist, ENT specialist, surgeon, anaesthetist and an ophthalmologist in the hospital but the vacant post of a paediatrician is making risky institutional deliveries without proper neonatal care, endangering both mothers and newborns.

Local residents have demanded the posting of a regular radiologist at the hospital. Sahil Sharma, Abhishek Thakur, Rohit, Vijay Verma and Ashish Chambial say that the Chowari hospital caters to the healthcare needs of over 1.5 lakh population of the Bhattiyat Assembly constituency. They have appealed to the Health Department to post a radiologist and a radiographer on deputation in the hospital as a time gap arrangement.

Dr Mohan Lal, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Civil Hospital, says that a proposal for a new digital X-ray machine has been submitted to the higher authorities. He admits that the old X-ray machine is outdated and has been repaired multiple times in the past. It has been defunct for the past few months, he adds.