Dialysis facility inadequate at Abohar hospital

Patients suffering from kidney diseases are at the receiving end at the Subdivisional Civil Hospital here. Since only one of the two dialysis machines is functional, only two patients could avail themselves of the free facility at the 100-bed hospital in a day.

One of the two dialysis machines at the hospital had conked out long ago while the other has been repaired four times and may stop working any time. Dr Suresh Kamboj, medical officer at the hospital, said dialysis of patients suffering from kidney problems was being done only through one machine since long. It has been repaired for the last time. If it gets damaged now, the government would not be getting it repaired.

Only one of two machines working

• One of the two dialysis machines at the hospital had conked out long ago while the other has been repaired four times and may stop working any time
• A session of dialysis takes about four hours and the service is provided at the hospital from 9 am to 5 pm. Thus, only two patients can avail themselves of the facility while others are forced to visit private hospitals

Kamboj said five to six patients visit the hospital daily for dialysis, but only two of them get the treatment since only one machine was available.

A session of dialysis takes about four hours and the service is provided at the hospital from 9 am to 5 pm. Thus, only two patients could avail themselves of the facility while others are forced to visit private hospitals and pay anything from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for a session. Kamboj said apart from dialysis, the patient also needed medicines and injections.

Varinder Kumar, incharge of the dialysis unit, said the facility would come to a halt if the only operational machine developed a fault. Senior Medical Officer Neerja Gupta said she had requested the Health Department several times to provide new machines to the hospital.

The Director, Health Department, who visited the hospital a few months ago, had assured to give two new dialysis machines to the hospital soon.

MLA Sandeep Jakhar said he had informed successive health ministers in the state that there was no gynaecologist, paediatrician and anaesthesiologist at the Civil Hospital here due to which patients were forced to go to private hospitals for treatment.