VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR
Chatra, April.27: An ultrasound machine had been purchased at Sadar Hospital at the cost of about Rs 67 lakh last year. But the hospital lacked a radiologist and technician to operate it which is the reason why this machine is lying unused in the store of the hospital for the last few months.
Local people said the purchase of this machine was the right decision. But the hospital management’s failure to hire a radiologist and technician for this machine to date is a case of negligence, added they. They said before buying the machine there should be an arrangement to run it. Without a technician and radiology doctor, this ultrasound machine is no more than a piece of iron, said Mithilesh Kumar, an undergraduate of Chatra College.
Hospital sources said in the absence of a technician, this expensive ultrasound machine has been covered with a sheet and stored in a room of the Sadar Hospital. There are only a few ultrasound facilities in the town. With the machine at the Sadar Hospital non-functional, patients are left with no other option but to go for this test at a higher rate.
Patients coming to Sadar Hospital have to go to the market for an ultrasound where they have to pay a fee of one thousand rupees even for a normal ultrasound.
Civil surgeon Shyam Nandan Singh said that from the DC level, the process has started to hire a radiologist and a technician to operate this machine from the DMFT fund. This facility will start functioning soon, added he.
