Paralakhemundi, :- The air conditioning (AC) installed in the District Head Hospital in Paralakhemundi, Sadar Mahkuma, Gajapati district has been in a non-working condition for a long time, causing the patients and the people living with the patients to cry out in anguish. It is no secret how the patient care is being provided in this hospital. The condition of the patients staying here for treatment is becoming critical. The intense heat of summer has continued for the past year. During this time, the temperature has crossed 40 degrees Celsius. In such a situation, everyone, including the general public, is worried, but the condition of the patients and their family members who are being treated in the District Head Hospital is deplorable. It is alleged that the AC installed in various wards, children and obstetrics departments and ICU in this hospital is not working, which is doubling the suffering of the patients.
The incident of AC not working, especially in sensitive departments like ICU, has exposed the inefficiency of health services. Often, the relatives of the patients are seen shaking hands while they are shaking the patients and children. Even though the fans are running, they are not able to bear the unbearable heat. And for some patients, their relatives have been seen bringing small table fans or small coolers on their own. However, it has also been observed that the poor people are not able to bring these and are getting tired of shaking their hands. In such a situation, the patients are suffering from unbearable heat along with the disease and the helpers and relatives who live for them are shaking hands. Seeing the miserable condition of both the patients and their families in this hospital, everyone is getting disturbed. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities are evading the responsibility by saying that all the ACs are under the GD branch of the department. It has been alleged that even after trying to contact the GD department regarding the problem, there was no proper response.
It is being discussed that although the instructions were given to keep all the ACs of the hospital operational in the preparation meeting held before the summer season and the natural disaster review meeting, the departmental officials did not pay any attention to it. Paralakhemundi MLA Eng. Rupesh Kumar Panigrahi came to know about such irregularities in the hospital and visited it twice on Sunday night and Monday noon. He expressed his deep dissatisfaction after seeing irregularities such as keeping patients and their relatives in a hot chamber due to the current heat wave and irregularities in various departments such as the toilets of the hospital not being cleaned and smelling. He was especially annoyed to see the ACs in the pediatric department and the ICU being non-functional. He has ordered to immediately arrange for air-conditioned rooms for newborn babies. Later, after discussing with the District Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shantanu Padhi, the MLA has ordered to take steps to resolve the problems in all the rooms. On the other hand, during a surprise visit to the hospital yesterday evening, after the MLA reprimanded the staff on duty, it was found that the toilets were cleaned with a wink and the AC repair work of some rooms was started.
