M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Aug 1: The Sunday seism due to large-scale transfers of medical officers and around 8 civil surgeons in the state has rendered the Medinirai Medical College Hospital in Daltonganj to reel under the acute crunch of doctors.
Five of the medical officers of MMCH have been given marching orders by Jharkhand Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Department from here to the neighbouring district Garhwa and one far to West Singhbhum. Out of the 5, four go to Garhwa district alone.
According to the medical superintendent of MMCH, Dr Dilip Kumar Singh, the 5 who have been transferred from the MMCH Daltonganj are Dr S S Horo, Dr Q Perwez, Dr Awadesh Singh, Dr Birender Kumar and Dr Kaushal Kishore.
The medical superintendent said following the transfers of Dr S S Horo and Dr Q Perwez, the number of doctors in the gynaecology ward in the MMCH has from 4 reduced to 2.
Dr Dilip said now this all-time rush gynaecology ward in the MMCH is left with Dr Vijeta and Dr Archana.
On average, 30 to 40 cases come a day here in the gynaec ward and if there is any outbreak of chaos, violence, assault of the doctors and staff nurses etc here in MMCH, it is the gynaec ward that is the flash point.
Dr Dilip said he does not know how to manage the gynaec ward with just two doctors. He said he foresees unhappy times here for the MMCH.
Dr Dilip said around 16 senior residents till date working in the MMCH Daltonganj will be off from here also following their 1-year tenure of internship coming to an end on August 12.
Among the five transferred from MMCH Daltonganj to Garhwa, is a noted doctor Awadesh Singh who is known more for his administrative acumen. He belongs to the orthopaedic department.
A jail doctor and medical officer in the MMCH Daltonganj Dr Birender Kumar have also been shunted out from here to West Singhbhum.
One medical officer in the pathology department Dr Kaushal Kishore too has been moved out from here to Garhwa district.
Sources said questions are bound to arise the way Palamu district has been left dry of the doctors while its close by district Garhwa gets a lion’s share of the transfers.
Insiders in the state health department said the drinking water and sanitation department minister Mithilesh Thakur who is the JMM MLA from Garhwa has been very instrumental in bringing loads of doctors from Daltonganj to Garhwa.
According to the medical superintendent, transfers have been notified but no replacement has been notified for the 5 transferred from here.
All eyes are now on the DC Palamu Anjaneyulu Dodde whether he can alone prevail upon the state health department to allow these five transferred doctors to remain here till their replacements do not join.
The transfer of Palamu civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar too has gained larger attention here than ever. Although Dr Anil Kumar has been retained here by notifying him as the additional chief medical officer, the medical fraternity here is cautious in its reaction to changes made at the level of the civil surgeon.
Dr John F Kennedy has replaced Dr Anil Kumar as the civil surgeon of Palamu. Dr Kennedy was the Palamu civil surgeon in 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic started and he gave effective and people satisfaction management when the time was crisscrossed by periodic lockdown etc.
In mid-April 2021, Dr Kennedy fell critically ill when he got down with the worst and the severest load of the Coronavirus leading to his removal from the post of Palamu civil surgeon.
After Dr Kennedy, for the first 50 days, Dr Anil Kumar Srivastav came to Palamu, who served as a stop-gap civil surgeon and carried out his job quite well.
Then came Dr Anil Kumar who remained the Palamu civil surgeon for over one year before being made to step out for the new assignment of the ACMO, MMCH, under the order of the state government.
Dr Anil Kumar and his team did a wonderful job in the 3-week long leprosy case detection campaign which drew the attention of the Union Health Ministry in the wake of the positive cases of leprosy coming out in Palamu which till the recent years were pushed down the carpet except few positive cases made known then.
The peripheral health centres, which remain dogged with problems always were activated by Dr Anil Kumar to deliver without delay.
