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Sadar hospital in Karandih. Picture by Animesh Sengupta
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In what appears to be yet another instance of administrative gaffe, the 100-bed Sadar hospital at Karandih, which has been set up under National Rural Health Mission at a cost of Rs 4 crore, has apparently not stuck to its original design ratified by the health department.
According to East Singhbhum civil surgeon Jagat Bhusan Prasad, the building does not have an intensive care unit (ICU) or burns care unit (BCU) among other flaws.
The anomalies came to light following an inspection by Prasad after the building was handed over to the health department in July.
Interestingly, after Prasad sent a report to the state health secretary last week mentioning the flaws in the newly constructed building, a fresh plan was reportedly dropped at the civil surgeon’s office by an unidentified person on Friday. But the plan neither bore the signature of any person in authority nor was a forwarding letter attached to it.
“After assuming office last month, I wanted to inspect the Sadar hospital building at Karandi so that steps could be taken to start operations. During inspection, I found that there was no ICU block or BCU. The building plan had the provisions for the two blocks even though there no such space earmarked on the hospital premises. While I was getting the matter probed, someone dropped another plan at my office, but it does not have the authority’s signature or a forwarding letter,” said Prasad.
The civil surgeon further said that Sadar Hospital was set up for catering to those living in eastern part of the city. “The department wants to provide all medical facilities on a par with a full-fledged hospital. We had planned to rope in specialists, but it’s indeed sad to note that the building does not even have the all-important ICU and BCU blocks,” Prasad added.
He further said that he was also looking into the manpower issue. “As soon as doctors and paramedics are appointed, we will make the hospital functional,” Prasad promised.
However, Krishna Singh, a senior official of the engineering cell of department of health and medical education that was in charge of constructing the building, denied any deviation from the original plan. “We built the hospital according to the drawing we received from the health department. We don’t know whether the East Singhbhum civil surgeon has detected any flaw,” Singh told The Telegraph.
He expressed ignorance about the fresh building plan submitted to the civil surgeon.
On his part, Prasad has decided to go ahead with the probe and is likely submit another report to the health department soon.
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