From our Correspondent
DIMORIA, Nov 14: The 200-bedded District Hospital at Sopur in Kamrup (M) district has all that have every reason to go against healing patients, right from the very ambience the hospital has.
To begin with, one has to go for a brief detailing of the unhygienic situation the district hospital has been in for years. Banners and posters for bringing awareness on cleanliness are seen on the hospital premises, here and there. However, the hospital authority itself seems to have failed on this front, vital for early recovery of patients from their ailments. Negligence on the part of the hospital authority is glaringly visible on the premises. The water filter of the hospital looks like a platter for spitting. Red betel nut-laden spits and the stench from them make patients and their attendants useating. It is more than glaring that the hospital authority itself has failed on the cleanliness front. There is a brief not ‘iyat thu nepelabo (don’t spit here)’. The irony is that the note itself makes it crystal clear that people do spit there. The very spot stained red back this statement up.
The hospital has some cabins, along with beds. However, for reasons best known to the hospital authority, the cabins are not allotted to patients or their attendants. Salma Begum, a patient of the hospital, did seek a cabin only to know that the cabins have not been opened for allotment to patients. She, however, says that patients who are relatives of medicos and other staff of the hospital do get cabins allotted. Nepotism is all pervasive, even at places for treatment of poor patients. The morgue of the hospital is on the verge of being conked up for prolonged non-use and lack of proper upkeep. Costly machines like freezers in it may go out of order soon, if proper upkeep is not followed for their preservation.
The surrounding of the hospital is also full of bushes. It has no proper place for placing dustbins.
The hospital staff members have quarters in an unhygienic condition. Water and other sewerage that come out from the quarters do not go to the tank. They follow their own courses as the sewerage system there is not properly maintained.
Hygienic health service continues to elude Assam. All assurances to bring the system back on track seem to be tall talk.