RTI Act exposes hospital’s callousness

[ganpat1956]

Fatehabad, December 5

Owing to the indifferent attitude of the authorities, the ultrasound machine installed at the local General Hospital has been non-functional for the past 34 months and no effort is being made to get it repaired.

The issue came to light when a local resident, Mr Manoj Kumar Aggarwal, sought information regarding the machine from the hospital under the Right to Information Act. The information provided by the authorities points towards the lackadaisical attitude of the hospital authorities.

Mr Aggarwal, who has been taking cudgels against the high-handed and indifferent attitude of the authorities toward the general public in the past too, sought information from the hospital authorities regarding the ultrasound machine.

The information provided by the authorities revealed that the ultrasound machine was installed in the hospital on September 28, 1999, and had not been in working condition since February 27, 2004.

The information provided by the hospital authorities revealed that even during the period when the ultrasound machine was in working condition, there was no radiologist in the hospital and the one deputed from the General Hospital Hisar conducted the tests. The information revealed that earlier the hospital authorities had a contract with M/s Philips Medical Systems India Limited for the repair of this machine, but now there was no contract with any firm. To a question whether any request had been made to the company for the repair of the machine, the hospital replied that a request was made on November 29.

Interestingly, Mr Aggarwal had given his application under the Right to Information Act on November 29. He was provided with the requisite information on December 4.

{Source: "The Tribune", Dec.06,2006, Chandigarh}

[brijeshbhatt]

I strongly feel Hospital is one area where people must use RTI frequently as Health deptt. is not using funds allocated to them efficiently moreover they are not paying any heed to common man's sufferings.

[snkmoorthy]

the situation outlined in #1 is nothing new. it is a widely prevalent thing and i can give many examples of such callousness. what people should know about this situation is that the doctors/administrators working in peripheral hospitals have little say in deciding who is to maintain the equipments. very often these things are decided by higher ups and thrust on lower staff. maintenance of equipments is a weak area in the hospital administration. if people bombard repeatedly using RTI on this point, some good may emerge.