ICU inaugurated by CM remains defunct in Uttarakhand in the absence of staff

dehradun

Updated: Apr 16, 2018 22:08 IST

An intensive care unit (ICU) at the Pithoragarh district hospital in Uttarakhand is not operational after its inauguration by chief minister TS Rawat on April 14 in the absence of the required staff.

A drinking water supply scheme, inaugurated by the CM on the same day, has also run into problems.

“Though the unit (ICU) is greatly needed in the district, yet without staff, the facility is defunct,” said Dr HS Kharayat, the chief medical superintendent at the hospital.

At least five general medical officers (GMOs), an anaesthetic, an ECG X-ray technician, four staff nurses and a ward boy are needed to run the unit, Kharayat said.

“We have sent a proposal in advance seeking the required staff, so that after inauguration, the unit could benefit people. But I don’t think the government has processed the proposal for staff deployment,” he added

Bhangwan Singh, a Jan Manch leader in Pithoragarh, said, “Only to get publicity, the state government showed hurry in inaugurating the unit without deputing the required staff in the hospital.”

The chief minister came to Pithoragarh for two hours to inaugurate the well-equipped ICU. The Hans Foundation donated machines to ICU, so that patients needing critical care could be treated at the hospital. The machines have been kept at a room, hospital officials said.

The CM also inaugurated a scheme for drinking water supply to Paithoragrh from Awalaghat. The supply was discontinued after dirty water was received because of corrosion in pipelines.

An Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan engineer, who was honoured by the chief minister for his role in the execution of the scheme, said water became dirty as a tank at the Chandak hilltop was not cleaned.

“We have started cleaning the junk from the pipelines; we hope water supply could be started from the newly commissioned scheme in next two days,” said RS Dhramashaktu, the engineer.

The scheme, a dream project of local MLA and drinking water minster Prakash Pant, was executed at a cost of Rs 79 crore. The 12 MLD (million litres per day) project, which replaced the 40-year-old scheme for water supply from Saryu at Ghat, was to meet the drinking water needs of over 80,000 people of Pithoragarh town and nearby villages.

“If the electricity supply does not remain regular round the year, we will face the same problem from the Awalaghat scheme as we have been facing from the Ghat scheme,” a Pithoragarh resident said.