Bargarh: Healthcare services in Bargarh district are in a state of collapse with large-scale vacancies in several posts of doctors and other staff across hospitals.
The district headquarters hospital (DHH) portrays a gloomy picture as fracture patients are being treated with cardboard splints, while family planning surgeries are halted midway as crucial equipment becomes defunct.
The situation has further deteriorated with the closure of Bargarh Cancer Hospital, set up under the previous government and now lying locked, even as the new government has completed more than one year.
Adding to the crisis, equipment installed at the state’s first Critical Care Block, built at a cost of more than Rs 18.10 crore on the DHH premises, has gone missing less than a year after its inauguration. The facility itself remains locked.
The disappearance of machinery from inside the block has raised serious questions over the role and accountability of officials and staffers.
The issue has become a matter of public debate, especially when Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling is in charge of the district.
Funded under the Centre’s PM Ayushman Bharat Infrastructure Mission, the three-storey Critical Care Block was designed with an emergency ward, minor operation theatre, dialysis and isolation units on the ground floor.
The first floor houses operation theatres, a labour room and a one-stop centre, while the second floor accommodates a high dependency unit and an intensive care unit.
The block was meant to provide 50 beds, including three for dialysis, 24 for isolation, eight for HDU, 10 for ICU, two for emergency, as many for maternity and paediatric care, along with a couple of beds for post-observation.
A police outpost and fire control room were also part of the plan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had virtually inaugurated the facility October 29, 2024, in the presence of local MP Pradeep Kumar Purohit, MLAs Ashwini Sarangi, Nihar Ranjan Mahananda, Irasis Acharya, Sanat Kumar Gartia, senior health officials, Collector Aditya Goyal and then Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Nirupama Sarangi.
Leaders at the event hailed it as a milestone in the BJP government’s commitment to healthcare and development.
But today, not a single patient has received treatment there.
Instead, the public is shocked by reports of missing equipment, eroding trust in both governance and administration.
Meanwhile, locals have questioned the role of police, demanding a high-level probe into the sorry state of affairs.
Sources said this is not the first time that equipment was stolen from the hospital premises. The hospital superintendent had lodged a complaint July 19, 2025 with Bhatli police after copper wires from the central AC, a water purifier, a water table and other health equipment were stolen, with miscreants also vandalising property.
Despite the sensitive nature of the case, the police neither registered an FIR nor initiated an investigation. Owing to this alleged negligence, more items were later stolen from the facility.
The superintendent again wrote to the Bhatli police September 3, pointing out the earlier inaction. Only then did police register a case September 4 under Section 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Yet the matter remains confined to paper, with no recovery or arrests made so far.
PNN
