Ranchi, Feb. 9: Once the pride of the state and its medical fraternity, the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences has been a victim of crab mentality for more than one-and-a-half decade.

Such work culture, where most seniors pursue their own agenda and oppose initiatives by juniors, is hardly conducive to the proper utilisation of the recent Rs 120-crore largesse from the Prime Minister’s health fund, a section of the staff and doctors said. Expensive equipment have been purchased, but they have either remained unutilised or their use has been so restricted that no one has been able to master the techniques of using them, sources alleged. “Former RMCH or the present-day Rims, call it whatever you like, the fact remains that it has been given all the necessary gizmos. But some of them have never been taken out of their cases, while others are treated as the personal property of senior doctors,” complained a junior medico.

A doctor, once posted at the intensive critical care unit, had confided that some sophisticated equipment were kept under lock and key so that no one apart from the head of the department could use it. The situation was such that if the professor suffered a heart attack, then no one would have been able to save him by using the equipment. Some important equipment and facilities, like auto-analyser in pathological laboratory, cobalt unit, internal air purifier, hi-tech photography unit, dialysis equipment, CT scan, laparoscopic instruments and many other gadgets, were either selectively used, under-used or not used at all.

A staff member the World Health Organisation had donated equipment for the radiology section nearly 20 years ago. But they were not taken out of the cases.

When the new state was created, the college and hospital was allotted over Rs 50 crore. The amount was spent on building repair, purchase of lifts, change of electrical fittings and other maintenance work. “But what people require is quality service, not a swank building where a patient feels like an intruder. Give him the best treatment in a hut, he will be happy,” said a doctor, an alumni of the college and hospital.

“How long can one remain an associate or an assistant professor? What do you expect from a doctor who does not have any hope of promotion in the near future?” asked a doctor. Many successful doctors, like eye specialist B.K. Verma, chose to resign than languish, the doctor said.