Jubbal is plagued by medical neglect

khada pathar, hp: one more critically ill patient died of plague at the post-graduate institute of medical education and research in chandigarh on tuesday. this takes the number of deaths from the latest plague outbreak to four with a few more still under intensive care and health authorities announced that the outbreak has been contained. but for the prosperous apple-growing belt of jubbal and rohru of himachal pradesh, where the plague originated, the story does not end there.this belt which has had at least two earlier outbreaks of the deadly disease since the early eighties, lacks basic medical facilities. sick patients still have to walk miles in the snow to reach medical centres. a time lag of 10 to 20 hours is common before an emergency case reaches the right hands. both jubbal and rohru boast of a civil hospital — jubbal has a 50-bed one and rohru a 100-bed hospital. but both hospitals fail to meet the specified standards. the jubbal hospital, for instance, reeks of tobacco smoke, with its corridors littered with waste and cigarette butts. the maintenance of its dark and dingy rooms and wards is poor, to say the least. the operation theatre has been closed for the last 10 years for want of a surgeon. only gynaecological, dental, paediatric and medicine-related ailments are taken up. all surgery and trauma cases are referred to the indira gandhi medical college and hospital in shimla, 100 km away. the far-flung villages in this otherwise developed area, where roads are good and snooker saloons dot the markets in even remote pockets, have poor health services. kelvi village, where the hunting party, including the first victim randhir, went, is 35 km from jubbal. no road reaches out to kelvi and after reaching bathrala, 25 km from jubbal, a trek of four-five hours in snow takes one to kelvi. a seriously-ill patient, who takes at least six-eight hours to reach jubbal, is invariably disappointed at being referred to the pgi in chandigarh. n. mahajan, incharge of the jubbal civil hospital, told times news network most trauma patients reach the hospital eight to 10 hours late. acute shortage of staff, especially sweepers, manifests itself in the poor upkeep of the hospital. even doctors complain of low strength. ‘‘funds are a problem and any equipment takes ages to be purchased and installed.’’ a doctor pointed out that there was only one ambulance to bring patients from far-flung areas. the rohru civil hospital boasts of relatively better cleanliness, though a few rooms are dark and dingy and emit the same nauseating smell. catering to a population of 45,089, the hospital, however, faces an acute shortage of doctors. most trauma cases have to be rushed to shimla. state health minister j.p. nadda admits that failure to cater to the patients in remote areas, especially trauma cases, has remained a problem. ‘‘the state government is working on a project for setting up two trauma centres, one in shimla and the other in bilaspur. rs 2 crore has already been sanctioned.’’ the failure of the state government to provide adequate medical facilities has contributed to increasing patient load on the pgi. pgi director dr s.k. sharma has been emphasising that health services at the level of the states need to be upgraded for it to focus on its primary aim of being a centre for medical research.