Sambalpur, Jan. 30: Local residents, under the aegis of Paschim Odisha Dalit Surakshya Parishad, sat on a dharna at the Veer Surendra Sai institute of Medical Science and Research in Burla today demanding procurement of intensive care equipment and improved medical diagnostic facilities.

'Thousands of people from across west Odisha depend on this hospital for health service. However, the authoritieshere havefailed to provide modern medical diagnostic facilities This has forced people to depend on private nursing homes and end up paying more money,'said Nihal Singh, who had joined the protest.

'Theorthopaedicdepartment here does not have C-Arm X-ray machine. Hence, several major operations are not taking place in the hospital. It does not have an MRI machine as well. We demand that these important machines should be procured by the hospital authority at the earliest,' said Singh.

Earlier, the parishad had submitted a memorandum to the superintendent on January 22and had given a seven-day time frame to resolve the issues. They had threatened to resort to an agitation todayif their demands were not met.