The Newz Radar
Patients seeking eye surgeries at Dr Rajendra Prasad Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital at Tanda in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh are facing a tough time due to the breakdown of essential machines.
The Ophthalmology Department at Tanda Hospital has been grappling with the non-functioning of the laser machine and optical coherence tomography (OCT) operation machines. While the laser machine has been out of order for almost a year, the hospital has not been able to get it fixed or replaced with a new one. This has resulted in around 15 lakh worth of laser machines gathering dust in the hospital premises.
Without the laser machine, the doctors are unable to cut the cataract membrane during eye operations. The OCT machine worth Rs 40 lakh has not been repaired even after a month, causing inconvenience to patients who travel from far-off places. Several patients are compelled to visit private hospitals for treatment due to the non-availability of essential machines in the government hospital.
Patients say that due to the breakdown of the machines, they had to shell out huge sums to get operations done in private hospitals.
Dr SK Sharma of the Ophthalmology Department said that they had informed the authorities concerned and requested them to fix the machines, but to no avail. Patients are left frustrated as they have to bear the expense of treatment in private hospitals despite having access to Ayushman and Himcare, the government’s free treatment healthcare schemes.
