Bandipora: An Ultra-Sonography (USG) machine is lying defunct at District Hospital Bandipora for the past six months, putting the patients in trouble but the Health authorities seems to be least bothered about the same.
The lone USG machine at the hospital, lying dysfunctional for six months now has raised a lot of questions on the overall medical-care facilities in the district, while the locals claim that despite several intimations the authorities are yet to respond.
Locals said in August last year the machine developed some technical snag and it took six months for the hospital to repair the machine but once the machine was ready to use, the sonologist who would operate the machine was already sent back to her original place of posting and now no one is available to operate the machine.
“This depicts the official apathy and lackadaisical approach of the health authorities, ” locals said.
With no other (USG) machine available, the patients especially pregnant women are facing a lot of hardships. The patients especially critical patients are facing lots of problems due to lack of the facility inside the hospital,” said Gh Nabi who was attending an emergency patient last month.
The non-availability of USG facility at DH Bandipora has given a free hand to the private clinics as they are charging hefty sums from the patients thus troubling the poor patients.
The conspiracy theory that is being discussed in the town is that some fringe elements in the hospital in conveyance with the private USG clinics are deliberately playing spoil game to keep the USG facility away from the hospital so that private clinics can earn better at their clinics.
Locals even alleged that the USG machine was deliberately damaged by these fringe elements, a claim that was not verified from the independent sources.
Locals said the private clinics are charging hefty sums with impunity as there is no fixed rate list available and neither the district administration has put them to task to regulate the rates.
Medical Superintendent Dr Bashir Ahmad Teli said that the sonologist is not available in the hospital as she has been posted in Chuntimulla village. Teli said he has projected the demand to the higher ups and soon a sonologist may be available to make the USG section functional again. He rejected all the conspiracy theories doing rounds and said that machine is repaired by only empanelled companies that was the reason of delay and till then the sonologist was sent back to her original place of posting.
