Govt yet to start emergency, ICU services at super speciality centre in Patiala

Even as two months have passed since the super specialty centre at the Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, was inaugurated, government is yet to start emergency, in-patient department (IPD), intensive care unit (ICU) and intensive coronary care unit (ICCU) services at the centre.

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Of total eight departments, government has failed to start even the out patient department (OPD) services of five departments.

As of now, only the computerised tomography (CT) scan and OPD services of three departments are available at centre.

According to officials of the health department, delay in joining of super specialist doctors is hindering in making the said departments and services functional at the newly-inaugurated super specialty centre.

Presently, only the urology, neurosurgery and cardiothoracic departments are functional here that too without emergency facility, an in-patient department, an ICU and an ICCU.

The centre was inaugurated on November 5 last year by state medical education minister OP Soni and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur after a 14-month delay. The centre was initially supposed to start functioning from September, 2018.

However, even after the delay, cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology, endocrinology and neurology department are yet to be made functional.

Dr Harjinder Singh, principal of Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, said, “Five super specialist doctors are yet to join the hospital after being hire by the state government. They had sought two-month extension to join the hospital. The extension has ended but they are yet to report to duty. We held a meeting with the higher officials in this regard.”

“We are working on starting complete functioning of the super speciality centre soon,” he added.

The ₹150-crore project was initiated in 2013 by the Union ministry of health and family welfare under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. In February 2014, former Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had laid the foundation of the centre.