Med edu secy visits Doon hosp

DEHRADUN: Secretary of medical education, Senthil Pandian, conducted a sudden inspection of the Doon hospital, which has drawn flak in the past few months due to dismal health facilities, on Thursday. He directed the hospital to set up a separate pathology unit and a billing counter in the women’s wing.
The pathology units and billing counters of Doon Men’s Hospital and Doon Women’s Hospital were merged according to Medical Council of India (MCI) norms so that the hospital could qualify as a medical college.But the merger had led to long queues and frequent arguments between the pathology staff and patients.
TOI had earlier reported that of the 23 baby warmers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) only six are functional. Both the ventilators in the NICU ward are also dysfunctional. The hospital authorities had taken no action to change the situation.
The condition of the paediatric ward, whose ceiling had flown away due to a storm in May, was no different. No repair work has taken place and the ward has been shut down. The hospital staff said that the children are being accommodated in wards in the men’s hospital.
After hospital authorities said that lack of funds were to be blamed for the dismal infrastructure, Pandian said that funds will be given to the hospital to run its facilities.