ROURKELA: The Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH), which caters to people of Panposh and Bonai sub-divisions in Sundargarh district along with those from neighbouring Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, is facing a huge shortage of doctors.
Sources said against the sanctioned strength of 81 doctors, the hospital has just 40. The workload on the present staff has increased as several facilities like CT scan, dialysis, central pathology laboratory and blood separation unit have been made functional at the hospital. This apart, efforts are underway to start laparoscopy surgery and 24-hour general OPD at the facility.
RGH at present offers a few specialist services in a few departments. The hospital does not offer super-speciality or ICU services. The Trauma and Burn Centre at the facility is lying defunct. Sources said trauma cases are referred to JP Hospital in the city.
The government had come up with a plan to upgrade RGH into a medical college and hospital. However, there is little possibility of the plan materialising as a government medical college and hospital has already started functioning in Sundargarh town.
The Ispat PG Institute and Super Speciality Hospital of SAIL at Rourkela are beyond the reach of poor patients as it is set to become a corporate hospital. On the other hand, the city’s privately-run Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital are virtually defunct. Former MLA of Rourkela Pravat Mohapatra said he would resort to a hunger strike in March demanding the upgradation of RGH into a government medical college and hospital with 600 beds and independent revenue district status to Rourkela.
Mohapatra said when he was MLA, the Congress government had in May 1999 given special administrative status to Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar and RGH. While the Capital Hospital has grown by leaps and bounds, RGH is left far behind. RGH director Dr Santosh Swain reiterated infrastructure development and posting of doctors, para-medical and support staff are underway in a phased manner.