CUTTACK: Patients suffering from sleep disorders are being deprived of availing treatment as the only Government-run lab in the entire Eastern India functioning from SCB Medical College and Hospital here has been shut down for the last eight months.
As per reports, the lab was set up in the Physiology Department and it started operation in March 2013. Dr Arpita Priyadarshini of the department was in-charge of the lab which aims to address sleep disorders, including insomnia (loss of sleep) and sleep apnoea (sleep disorder which occurs due to breathing problem).
Considering the high inflow of patients, a sleep disorder OPD was opened in November 2015 and it was running for two days a week on each Wednesday and Friday. Contracts were also made for supply of modern machineries and equipment for an advanced research lab.
Sources said the department had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and Kanpur for upgradation and modernisation of the lab to deal with 88 types of sleep disorders. However, things went wrong after Dr Arpita Priyadarshini got her promotion and transferred to Balangir Medical College and Hospital in December 2017.
Since then, the lab has been shut down and patients visiting the clinic for consultation are being forced to return back from the gate.
Sources said though Head of Physiology Department Prof Bipin Pradhan had written a letter to the State Government three months back to make it functional, no step has been taken in this regard.