Normal OPD at Mandi hospital from next week

Tribune News Service

Mandi, February 18

Pre-pandemic services will be restored at Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College and Hospital at Nerchowk in Mandi district from the next week.

The college was declared as dedicated Covid hospital and normal OPD service were suspended here after Covid-19 outbreak in March due to which people of the district were suffering huge difficulty in availing medical facilities. Since then this medical college has been providing services to only Covid positive patients in the district. The residents of the district had been urging the state government to resume OPD service at medical college.

The Tribune had highlighted the plight of people who were suffering because of absence of medical service for general ailments. Finally, the state government has issued an order de-notifying college as a dedicated Covid hospital. The government has asked the medical college authorities at Mandi to restore all pre-pandemic services in this hospital with immediate effect.

The residents of the district are delighted with the decision of the state government to resume OPD service at the medical college.

Narender Kumar, Dipak Sharma, Suresh Kumar and several other residents of the district said that it was a big relief for the residents as well as the residents of nearby districts. This hospital provides medical service to the residents of neighbouring districts like Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti and Bilaspur.

Doctor R C Thakur, Principal of the Medical College, Mandi, told The Tribune: “We had taken up the matter with the state government and suggested shifting of Covid hospital somewhere else so that normal health services could be restored in the medical college. Thanks to the efforts of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, there is significant downfall in Covid positive cases in the state during the last one month. Now the BBMB hospital Sundernagar will be a dedicated hospital for Covid patients.”

“We will resume OPD service on medical college premises from Monday onwards to provide better health care facilities to the residents of district,” he remarked.