Don’t turn Rajindra hospital into referral institute: Bhagwant Mann to admn

Karam Prakash

Patiala, October 19

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, during a surprise visit to Government Rajindra Hospital here, advised the hospital administration not to make the health facility just a referral institute.

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Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra said ever since he took charge of the department, he had noticed a shortage of specialist doctors, especially in the rural areas

The CM said Rajindra hospital, a tertiary healthcare institute and backbone of the Malwa region, should not refer patients to PGIMER-Chandigarh.

Patients and attendants at the emergency ward complained to the CM about the lack of medicines and beds; rude behaviour of doctors; and lack of treatment at the hospital.

One of the attendants, Manpreet Kaur of Bathinda, alleged that she had brought her ill mother to the hospital, but was asked, by an on-duty doctor, to locate an unoccupied bed for her mother (Jasmail Kaur), on her own.

Later, while talking to The Tribune, Manpreet claimed: “Doctors did not intervene timely. My mother died after a few hours.”

Another patient, who had met the CM, claimed: “There is a shortage of medicines at the hospital. I had to purchase medicines, worth Rs 650, from a chemist shop outside the hospital.”

Notably, Government Rajindra Hospital, despite having got a tag of a tertiary healthcare institute, has been facing acute shortage of medicines since long.

The CM while interacting with the media said he had come to listen to grievances of people and solve their problems. “We will improve infrastructure and provide medicines to the hospital at the earliest,” said Mann.