The multi-facility mobile van parked at Patna Medical College and Hospital on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

The multi-facility mobile van is lying unused at Patna Medical College and Hospital since the early 90s.

The Japanese government had provided the van and some more multi-facility equipment to its Indian counterpart for consolidating rural healthcare services. Call it the callous attitude of the state government but the fact remains that the mobile van, which also had the facility of conducting minor surgeries, is lying unused for decades.

“The mobile van, which is lying idle at PMCH could have been very useful. It is equipped with OT facilities and all minor operations for conditions like palate injury and wounds among others could have been done on it. All kinds of trauma management were possible in the van. It is very sad that the hospital authority is not at all concerned about the facility because it has not even used it once since its arrival. The health department is also not bothered about the facility. Had it been so, it would have given an ultimatum to the hospital,” said a source.

On the purpose of the van, the source added: “The mobile-van was supposed to visit villages and provide facilities to villagers. Most of the primary health centres (PHCs) in the state lack basic facilities. Even minor surgeries are not possible in the PHCs. Had the mobile van been operational, it would have benefited many rural people.”

A doctor with the PMCH asked: “I fail to understand why the government has not bothered to check that the facility has not been used ever? This is complete callousness of the hospital authorities and the state government.”

A former PMCH superintendent said that former chief minister Lalu Prasad had got the mobile van cleaned once in his tenure. “He had found the van lying unused at the hospital. So, he had got it cleaned and had kept it for some days at the Secretariat. But that was the only good treatment meted out to the mobile van,” he said.

PMCH superintendent Amar Kant Jha Amar, on the other hand, said: “The mobile van is defunct. It would take around Rs 14-18 lakh to get it repaired. We are not interested in spending the amount in its repair because we recently got four ambulances from the health department in which two are advanced ambulances on which there is OT facility.”

A PMCH doctor, however, was not happy with Jha’s statement. “If by spending money, the van could be made functional, why is the hospital authority not thinking about this? This is absurd.”