Health secy hauls up superintendent during MGMMCH inspection
JAMSHEDPUR: State health secretary Ajay Kumar Singh lost his cool during an inspection of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital (MGMMCH) in the health minister’s home city here on Thursday, following which he asked the hospital superintendent and deputy superintendent as to why should they not be transferred.
Worse, MGMMCH superintendent Dr Ravindra Kumar seemed so dejected that he retorted back, “Sir, please shift me out of here.”
Then, Singh asked deputy superintendent Dr Nakul Prasad Chowdhury as to how long he had been posted in MGMMCH? Dr Chowdhury replied that he was in charge of deputy superintendent of Seraikela Sadar Hospital apart from MGMMCH.
Shocked, the secretary immediately telephoned the joint secretary in the health department and asked him to look into the matter.
East Singhbhum civil surgeon Dr Jujhar Majhi, Dr Ajay Raj and Dr KK Chowdhury were also present.
The outrage came when Singh found out huge stock of very costly medical equipment and machines dumped in a closed room. He asked the superintendent why did they purchase these machines if they would not be used.
Then he moved to the hospital ICU and lost his cool after seeing the dismal condition during his inspection on Tuesday.
“MGMMCH needs drastic reforms. The government has ended the shortage of doctors, the hospital is being given Rs 5 crore and medicines and medical equipment are also being provided. Now the problem is at the local level. Too many patients are there in the emergency ward when many rooms are closed. The need is better management of resources. If situations don’t improve in a week, strong departmental actions will be taken. Superintendent, deputy superintendent and departmental heads will be held accountable. The entire system needs to changed. MGMMCH is not being run as a hospital should be run,” the health secretary told the media.
Singh said Jamshedpur Sadar Hospital would soon be the third best district hospital in the country.
“Ranchi is currently at second rank. New facilities are being started in Jamshedpur Sadar Hospital and 100 more beds are being added,” said Singh.
Later in the evening, he inaugurated the 3D Anatomsgev Table in the Manipal-Tata Medical College Hospital in Jamshedpur, first of kind in the eastern India that transforms anatomy learning with immersive 3D visualisation, whereby students can explore the human body layer by layer from the surface to the microscopic level.