Thanthan Hungyo
August 1
Dimapur, (MExN): The Civil Hospital, Dimapur is in dire need of a face-lift. Basic amenities such as continuous electric supply and running water are not available in the establishment. Nurses in the hospital are overworked due to the shortage in their numbers. Moreover, there is a dearth of specialists and hospital beds. The medical facility has 15 cabins and only 150 beds at present. Therefore, the hospital staff faces numerous difficulties during the months of April-July when all beds are occupied and there is no space to accommodate more patients.
Talking to The Morung Express, Medical Supervisor of the facility, Sukhato Asema confided that the hospital possesses only two generators, one of which was donated by ‘Clinical Pharmacy.’ One generator is solely employed in the blood bank which requires constant electricity, while the other is used for generating electricity in the Operation Theater. Thus, in the event of a power failure, the patients lodged in different wards of the hospital have to undergo untold sufferings. The Supervisor further revealed that the hospital had asked for a transformer and an electric feeder to supply continuous electricity directly from the Burma Camp Power House since 1997, but this need has not been realized to date. When this proposal was initially forwarded in 1997, the cost for this amenity had been placed at Rs.5, 62,000. When the proposal was put forward again in 2003, the cost was estimated at Rs.11, 95, 000. The District Planning Board, Dimapur, on realizing the gravity of the situation, had asked the hospital authorities to approach Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly for funds. So far, a few Ministers and MLAs have pledged financial assistance for the installation of the long-awaited transformer. In a humane gesture, doctors and nurses of the hospital have decided to delve into their pockets and raise an amount of Rs.1 lakh for the said transformer.
Asema further revealed that the hospital desperately needs more nurses. Being understaffed, the nurses in the medical facility are overworked. They have to cater to the needs of patients lodged in different wards. Per se, the same nurses have to move around the hospital premises from ward to ward be it the general wards, the Optic ward or the Drug de-addiction center. The hospital also requires a Radiologist and an Orthopedic surgeon, besides other specialists.
For round the clock water supply in the hospital, the hospital authorities are keen on taking advantage of the Water Harvest Scheme. The Public Health Engineering department has estimated the cost for such a venture at Rs. 7,65,000. Mention may be made that under the Prime Minister’s package, the hospital will be receiving a Trauma Center in near future.
An alarming trend that the hospital has recently noted is the increase in the number of HIV positive and AIDS patients registering into the hospital. Dr. Limakum, who is in charge of these cases, said that the hospital had recently blood-tested 495 persons out of which 51 turned out to be HIV positive. He however maintained that the hospital provided Anti-retroviral treatment to such patients and that post-exposure prophylaxis treatment is meted out to all those who come in contact with HIV positive patients. Hospital authorities have also demanded the State government to install a CD4 counting machine in the hospital.
