Sundargarh: In a display of the sorry state of affairs in hospitals of the state, the Rajgangpur MLA was seen attending to the patients at the Rajgangpur Government Hospital in Sundargarh district Thursday as doctors did not turn up for two days amid staff shortage in the hospital.
However, the noble gesture by the MLA Dr CS Raazen Ekka has spread cheers in the area as locals including the patients hailed his effort in attending to the patients in the absence of doctors. Reports said that patients had lined up at the community health centre Thursday morning but were disheartened as doctors were absent. This led to chaos at the hospital.
On getting information about the harrowing situation of the patients, Ekka, who holds a medical degree, arrived at the CHC and started attending to patients. A video has gone viral on social media platforms where Ekka was seen stepping into the doctors’ shoes and prescribing medicines to patients. He reportedly took each case one by one and offered services to nearly a hundred patients since 8 am in the morning and prescribed medicines for them. After reports surfaced, patients and locals thronged the hospital to get a glimpse of Ekka attending to the patients. When contacted, Ekka said that he had demanded the state Assembly to fill up the vacant posts of doctors and appoint specialists in the hospital.
However, the state government has yet to fulfill the demands. Moreover, no step has been taken to meet the shortage of doctors in the hospital by utilising the funds available under District Mineral Foundation (DMF).
Notably, Ekka has prior medical experience as he was serving as a doctor in the Indian Army. The hospital is daily visited by people from 20 wards under Rajgangpur Municipality as well as 10 adjoining panchayats. However, it is ironic that the hospital lacks an adequate number of doctors.