Nongpoh: The largest government hospital of Meghalaya’s only “aspirational district”, has miserably failed to provide healthcare services of the standard of a district hospital.
While healthcare and nutrition is the topmost priority of the “aspirational districts” initiative, it is surprising that the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh, the headquarters of Ri Bhoi district, still doesn’t have the facilities of a district hospital.
With the aim to improve the overall living standards of the people, in January 2018, Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi was adopted as one of the 115 “aspirational districts” of India.
It is surprising that even after six years of the “aspirational district” initiative; the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh could not upgrade its facilities to the standard of a district hospital.
As a result of the poor facilities at the Nongpoh Civil Hospital, people are left with no options but to go to either Shillong or Guwahati for treatment.
It is sad that the Nongpoh Civil Hospital has miserably failed to meet the parameters of a district hospital as laid down under the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) 2022.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare laid down the comprehensive guidelines under the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) 2022 for the district and sub-district hospitals in India.
Responding to public complaint about poor services, a two-member team of Northeast News recently visited the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh, and was surprised to find the sorry state of affairs.
Though the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh is the largest government hospital of Meghalaya’s only “aspirational district”, it was found that the hospital does not even have the simple ECG (electrocardiogram) facilities.
The poor patients are being referred to the Shillong Civil Hospital for ECG, while the others, who have the capability to pay, are going to the Bethany Hospital in Nongpoh.
In addition to ECG, the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh doesn’t have Ecocardiograph, EEG, CT Scan and MRI facilities as well.
While the entire Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya faces frequent power cuts, the X-ray machine at the Nongpoh Civil Hospital is non-operational if there is no power supply.
No bacteriological and virology tests are also done in the district hospital of Ri Bhoi because of the lack of manpower and proper microbiological laboratory.
Though the Nongpoh Civil Hospital has 100 beds, there are no trauma centre and ICUs. So in case of emergencies, and especially accidents, patients are rushed to Guwahati or to NEIGRIHMS in Shillong.
The hospital doesn’t have an incinerator and effluent treatment plant. The biomedical wastes of the Nongpoh Civil Hospital are sent to Guwahati for disposal.
Though the Civil Hospital has 25 doctors, including nine specialists, almost all of them are based in Shillong, and at times, are not available in case of emergencies.
“I know most of the doctors don’t stay in Nongpoh. We also can’t force them because we have only four quarters for the doctors,” Dr. D. Blah, the Superintendent of Nongpoh Civil Hospital said.
Dr. Blah said she took charge of the Civil Hospital at Nongpoh on March 1, and is caught in total helplessness. “I have informed senior officials about the lack of facilities in the hospital,” she said.
It is surprising as to how the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare could turn a blind eye to the state government’s lackadaisical attitude in providing proper healthcare services to the people in the largest hospital of Meghalaya’s only “aspirational district”.
Interestingly, Ri-Bhoi was ranked 3rd among the top 5 “aspirational districts” in the month of July 2022 apparently for showing “immense improvement” in terms of overall performance on NITI Aayog’s Delta Ranking.
While the NITI Aayog’s Delta Ranking algorithm identified “immense improvement” in terms of overall performance of Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi as an “aspirational district”, the poor tribal population is still being deprived of the basic healthcare facilities.
Apparently the Centre doesn’t have any mechanism in place to crosscheck the “claims of performance” by the administration of the “aspirational districts” and correlate the claims with “actual performance” on ground.
Even the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh L. Mandaviya undertook an official tour of Ri Bhoi district on October 15 last year, and surprisingly overlooked the poor state of affairs at the Nongpoh Civil Hospital.
