Chandil (Seraikela-Kharswan): A two-storey hospital has been lying abandoned since 2012 and is today used as a grazing area for cattle because of the shrubs that have grown around it, a telling picture of the medical infrastructure of Jharkhand that was recently declared first in terms of incremental performance in a national health care report card.

Meant to be a 50-bed sub-divisional hospital at Gangudih in Chandil sub-division, nearly 40km from the steel city in Seraikela-Kharsawan district, the foundation stone for the G+2 structure was laid by former deputy chief minister, the late Sudhir Mahato, in 2007.

But after 2012, it was inexplicably abandoned and no one really knows why even though Rs 5 crore had already been spent on it.

Seraikela-Kharswan deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan said they had conducted an enquiry and identified several officials who were responsible for the delay in completing the construction.

"We have sent a revised estimate of Rs 1 crore that we need to complete the remaining work along with a recommendation for strict action against the guilty officials," he said.

The Gangudih area is crying out for a sub-divisional hospital, said district civil surgeon A. P. Sinha, pointing out that since the area was close to busy NH-33 and accidents were frequent, a proper hospital would help save many lives.

"It is very unfortunate but we are helpless. At the moment we only have a district hospital in Seraikela and primary and community health centres that refer cases to MGM Hospital in Jamshedpur," he said, adding that the Gangudih hospital was yet to be handed over to them.

In Chandil sub-division, there is only community health centre with four general practitioners crammed in a single storied-structure at Gangudih. Nearly 100 patients turn up there daily.

According to Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), Jharkhand should have 8,813 health sub-centres, but as on 2015, there were only 3,958, a shortfall of over 4,800. A 50-bed sub-divisional hospital should have 11 specialists with fully furnished operation theatres, a lab, labour room, X-ray and ultrasound facilities.

According to Chandil SDO Bhagirath Prasad, the hospital over a half-acre plot was built by a special division of the state rural development department and was supposed to be handed over to the health department after completion.

"Around 30 per cent civil work is yet to be completed," he revealed.

But deputy commissioner Ranjan maintained they were determined to get the hospital completed at the earliest. "After we receive the necessary funds, we will finish the work and hand it over to the health department so that it can be made operational," he said.