Our Correspondent
Kiphire | May 6
The district hospital of Kiphire is in urgent need of attention from the government and policy makers so that the plight and healthcare needs of the about 74, 000 people in the district is met.
The hospital was constructed in the early 1980s with 25-beds and was upgraded to a 50-bedded hospital in 1995. The hospital is also one of the critical health institutions in the state rendering service to citizens without even having basic routine blood examination tools or equipments such as X-ray.
Eager to know about the standard of the healthcare services being provided to citizens, this correspondent paid a visit to Kiphire’s district hospital. Interacting with the hospital’s officials more insights into the sorry state of affairs of the hospital surfaced. The officials opined that ‘due to unavailability’ of life-saving drugs and improper laboratory facilities, even patients with minor illnesses have to be referred to Kohima or Dimapur. The two urban towns are 254 kilometers away from Kiphire.
Some of the Medical officers also said: ‘the Government of India has a set of rules for staffing pattern or for equipments for hospitals but the state does not have any proper rules so the problem lies there.’ However, they expressed hope that the district hospital will reach the standards of the other district hospitals ‘if God does not come soon’.
The officials were asked about any death cases or unknown diseases over the past couple of years ‘due to non-availability of proper laboratory facility or lifesaving drugs.’ The medical officers disclosed that there are few cases where “we could have done something had there been proper facility but due to non-availability of basic facility we have to come to conclusion as high fever.”
Not to talk about Indian health standards that stipulate a minimum 18 staff nurse, 9 specialized and 7 general doctors in 50 bedded hospitals, Kiphire’s doesn’t have even a single regular medical doctor. The entire responsibility is shouldered by a single Regular Gynecologist and one doctor on-contract appointed from NRHM and 11 staff nurse working round the clock in the hospital.
Adding more problems, some of the doctors posted are attached to other hospitals.
The dental department is in no better shape. The Nagaland government has provided one dental chair – and its compressor is not working and the equipment kits provided are outdated. The dentist has to procure equipment from her own earnings and providing service to the people. Sharing the problem of the dental department the dentist said ‘we really want to help the patient but due to unavailability of proper equipments we could not have done much and the only thing we do is extraction and minor treatment.’
The United Sangtam Students Conference is also reported to have submitted a representation to the Principal Director of Health and Family Welfare to redress the problem faced by the people by improving the laboratory and manpower of the hospital recently. The district hospital receives more than 25 patients every day.
