Berhampur: The absence of a specialist doctor in the cancer ward of the district headquarters hospital, also known as the City Hospital here, has severely hit healthcare services, a report said.
The situation arose after the only specialist doctor in charge of the ward was transferred six months back. The ward has been lying locked since then and the chemotherapy unit is defunct.
As a result, cancer patients who were earlier being treated here have been put to untold sufferings with the condition of 42 patients hanging in the balance.
This has come at a time when the government is launching various healthcare schemes to provide free medical treatment to people.
The patients have questioned the government’s wisdom behind launching healthcare schemes when it cannot afford to appoint specialist doctors.
The cancer ward came up in the City Hospital after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that cancer patients can avail treatment, consultation and free chemotherapy in all the district headquarters hospitals May 30, 2017.
Specialist doctors will be appointed for the purpose which would be of help to people of villages and tribal regions, the Chief Minister had added.
The health department soon started work to open a cancer ward in the City Hospital. Senior orthopaedic surgeon Dr Prasant Patra was given charge of the newly opened ward.
After his appointment, Dr Patra underwent two months’ special training at the Asian Cancer Institute in Mumbai and at the cancer hospital in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
Dr Patra returned to Berhampur after completion of training and started treatment from October. This was a great relief to patients as the latter started getting free treatment and consultation in the hospital.
The facility soon attracted patients from Ganjam and adjoining districts. The number of patients swelled in the hospital as they started getting chemotherapy, a costly treatment, free.
However, Dr Patra was transferred to Gajapati district at a time when the hospital was gaining name as a cancer care centre. The government transferred Dr Patra, but it did not appoint any doctor in his place. Over 42 patients had registered their names with the doctor for treatment. They were shocked after they learnt about his transfer.
The ward has become defunct after the transfer of Dr Patra and the 16-bed chemotherapy unit has remained locked up. Left with no option, the patients who earlier visited this hospital, are incurring a lot of expenses in getting treatment in other hospitals.
Additional district medical officer Dr P. Kurmaya said the health department has decided to appoint another doctor in place of Dr Patra. The new doctor will soon join the City Hospital after training, he added.
PNN