Ultrasound machine gathering dust for 10 years due to lack of radiologist at this Chamba hospital, another facility 70 km away

The Newz Radar

CHAMBA: The residents of Churah Assembly constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste category, in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh continue to suffer on the health front as their demand of having an ultrasound facility at the local government hospital remains unrealised despite a machine having been installed long 10 years back.

The Health and Family Welfare Department, after investing lakhs of rupees, installed an ultrasound machine at the Civil Hospital in Tissa, raising hopes for improved healthcare services in the region. Politicians had then engaged in a credit battle about bringing this crucial medical facility to the constituency. Promises were then made of deploying radiologists to operate the machine, but to no avail even after the passage of a decade.

Churah’s 78,823 voters as well as other non-voting population is thus deprived of this crucial facility and the people have little option but to travel to the district headquarters in Chamba, which is 70 km away, for ultrasound services.

The situation is even direr for residents of Chanju, Bairagarh and Sanwal, which are 120 km away from Chamba. With no private ultrasound centres in Churah, the locals are entirely dependent on the Chamba Medical College and Hospital, leading to not only mental but also financial burden for the residents.

Despite holding the position of Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in the last five years, Churah remained ensnared in a cycle of hope and waiting, with the promised activation of the dusty ultrasound machine at Civil Hospital, Tissa, never materialising.

Dr Kapil Sharma, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Chamba, acknowledged the presence of the ultrasound machine in the Civil Hospital at Tissa, but attributed its inactivity to the absence of a radiologist. Dr Sharma said the government had been informed about the issue regularly.