Elderly seek preference in Chamba hospital

Our Correspondent

Chamba, October 5

The Chamba Welfare Association has complained that despite government guidelines, the eldery persons are forced to stand out of OPD in the local hospital by taking their OPD slips in hands.

Airing their grievance at its meeting held here today, association president AK Bhardwaj and general secretary SK Kashmiri demanded that to address the problems of senior citizens, their OPD slips should be collected by the hospital staff and they should be given due preference turn by turn.

The office-bearers also rued the apathy of the authorities for not installing CT Scan and MRI machines in the local hospital though funds to the tune of Rs 10 crore had been provided by the NHPC and even then the patients were made to suffer.

They also demanded the oncology radiation facility in the hospital besides posting of cardiologist and other specialists. When asked about the woes of senior citizens, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College and Hospital (PJNGMC&H) Principal Dr Ramesh Bharti said the matter was not in his notice, however, directions would be issued in this respect.

Regarding CT Scan and MRI machines, Dr Bharti maintained that the matter to install these machines was in the pipeline. The issue of posting of specialists and other staff was in the purview of the government, he added.