Three months on, blood bank yet to start functioning at Phagwara Civil Hospital

Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, November 28

Though suspected cases of dengue have been increasing in Phagwara, the functioning of blood bank situated in Civil Hospital premises, suspended on August 26 due to expansion and alteration of the building is yet to be restored. Even patients admitted to the Civil Hospital were allegedly being forced to pay a heavy amount to get blood from private blood banks.

Senior Medical Officer Dr Lehmber Ram said he was confident that functioning of the Blood Bank would be restored soon but it has been reliably learnt that no expansion work could be undertaken in the last three months. No tender was called for to expand the present building which was objected to by the health authorities who issued a show-cause notice on August 24 and expressed dissatisfaction over the working of the blood bank.

It was learnt that the XEN, PHSC, Kapurthala gave an estimated cost of Rs 14.14 lakh on September 21 and funds were provided on October 20. Moreover, the funds were transferred to XEN Jalandhar on November 3 for immediate alteration of Blood Bank. Now, it has also been learnt that a letter was written by Phagwara SMO to Superintending Engineer, Mohali, to call tenders to start the work on November 14. Interestingly, correspondence between different government offices continued in all this time but no work could be initiated. Meanwhile, patients being admitted to the local Civil Hospital were being forced to get the required blood from a private blood bank which is proving to be expensive for patients from economically disadvantaged sections of society.

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