Patients forced to travel long distance for treatment
Munish Sood
MANDI: The crumbling condition of Mandi’s multi-storeyed Zonal Hospital has once again exposed the grim reality of public healthcare in the region. For the past three months, the hospital’s Eye Department operation theatre has been lying shut, not due to lack of doctors or equipment but because rainwater continues to leak through the roof.
The irony is stark: the hospital has three full-time ophthalmologists — Dr Bhup Singh, Dr Himani and Dr Sunil — yet none of them can perform a single surgery because the theatre is unsafe for procedures as delicate as eye operations. Patients, meanwhile, are being referred to Nerchowk or Sundernagar, adding to their financial and emotional burden.
Since the onset of monsoon, not a single surgery has been conducted in the ophthalmology department. For three months, patients arriving with hopes of critical eye surgeries have returned with disappointment, many complaining that travelling outside the district for treatment is both expensive and risky for elderly patients.
Operation theatre turns into liability
The operation theatre — considered the most critical part of any hospital — has become symbolic of the hospital’s neglect. While senior doctors are left helpless, residents of Mandi are questioning why a regional hospital, meant to cater to lakhs of people in the valley, cannot even maintain its basic infrastructure.
When contacted, Medical Officer Dr Dinesh Thakur admitted the problem and said repairs are being pursued on priority.
“We are aware of the issue and two cost estimates have already been prepared — one worth Rs 80,000 and another of Rs 19 lakh. Depending on feasibility, the leakage will be fixed,” he stated.
However, locals argue that such excuses reflect the slow pace of government hospitals, where bureaucratic red tape ends up punishing patients.
Human cost of negligence
Every day, dozens of patients, many of them poor and elderly, are turned away and told to travel to distant hospitals. “Having three eye specialists on paper makes no difference if the theatre itself is non-functional,” said one patient’s attendant, expressing frustration.
The closure has effectively turned skilled surgeons into referral doctors, undermining their expertise and leaving the community underserved.
