Polio camp turned disaster after death of two patients

A patient admitted in nursing home

 In sensational development two polio patients that were undergone surgical operation in the mega ‘polio-correction camp’ held in Sambalpur died in a private nursing home here on Tuesday morning. While one patient was declared brought dead, another was succumbed in the morning.  Nursing home sources said, the patients were having multiple cerebral problems due to polio and before going for surgical operation, the doctors should have confirmed their physical condition by conducting several tests. Since provision of several tests was not available in the camp, such patients should not have admitted in the camp.

Meanwhile Organizers of the camp have allegedly shifted the dead bodied of the deceased identified as Santoshini Sahu (14) of Bolangir’s Bandopara and Rupesh Koel (1 year 2 months) of Bargarh’s Jharbandh   to their respective villages to avoid further litigation. 

happy patients returned homes

“At least three patients that were under gone operation in the camp were brought to my nursing home in the late hours of Monday night. While one was received dead, another two were in critical conditions. One died in the morning. But the condition of the other one has been stable. Third patient Sarat Kalo ( 7 months) is now all right and out of danger”, the proprietor of the private Nursing Home, AK Singhal Said.

 

According to him, in such a mega surgical camp, provisions of eco-cardiogram, CT scan and other medical tests are not available to measure the physical condition of the patients. So organizers and doctors should avoid such patients having cerebral problems. 

Sources said, a polio corrective surgical camp was organized in Sambalpur’s Agrasen Dharmasala on Saturday and Sunday by the marwadi Yuba Manch in support with from Biswa (NGO), and district administration. The famous orthopedic surgeon Adi Narayan Rao of Visakhapatnam had conducted the operation. About four hundreds patients from various districts of western Orissa and neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had participated in the camp. After screening and test, the doctors selected about 186 patients for operation which includes major operation on 93 patients.

Meanwhile the jubilant members of the Yuba Manch have been tightlipped after this incident. They do not want to divulge any thing about the incident. Some of the members have even switched their cells off to keep them away from the incident.  “I am not in a position to tell any thing about the incident. We are enquiring the issue to know how it happened.” the PRO of the Yuba Manch Suresh Poddar said.

 

On the other hand, police have not yet registered any case in this matter in the absent of any complaint from the deceased parents. “We have not yet registered any case in the issue as there is no complaint with us. We can not take up the matter unless there is any complaint”, SDPO (Sambalpur)  D K Deo said

came saw and satisfied but problems remain as it was !

Children of a town based school wished the visit of the school and mass education minister to their school on a regular basis. Reason: they would get good and qualitative food. The children made the wish after they get qualitative food on Monday as the mass education minister Pratap Jena visited their school and opened a school building under DPEP.    

 minister is tasting MDM in Sambalpur

During his visit to Sambalpur on Monday, the school and mass education minister Pratap Jena tested the food prepared for the school children under MDM programme in a school located in town’s Motijharan area and appreciated the quality of the food. But he was perhaps unaware that the food that was prepared on Monday was quite different from the food serve to the children regularly.

“We get rice and dal every day. But today was special one. There was vegetable in the Dal and it was tasty. Every day we get Dal that was fool of water. So we wish minister would visit on a regular basis so that we will able to get good and qualitative food”, a student of Veer Surendra Sai UGME school located at Motijharan area said.

“The students wanted to request the minister about their wish, but they could do so because fear to their teachers. We have been asked to not to move from the seats and to keep quit until the minister leaves the school campus. So we could not speak to the minister” another student of the school said.

On the other hand, the minister visited few schools of the district and engaged in inaugurating few school buildings under DPEP programme. He also expressed satisfaction over quality of education imparted in the schools. The minister also visited the Training school where he inaugurated the advance teacher’s training centre (digital equalizer programme) that has been developed by the mass education department with the technical support from American India Foundation (AIF).

“He came and visited the district. But the real problem of the district was remained unattained. Neither the minister enquired about the situation, nor any one raised the issue before him”, a retied teacher said. According to him, the primary education of the district has been totally in distress as there is serious shortage of teachers in several schools located in the rural areas. There are schools in the district which run with only one teacher.

Sources said, Sambalpur revenue district is comprised of 3 education districts namely Sambalpur, Rairakhol and Kuchinda. Reports say the teacher student ratio is quite high in urban area it is drastically low in rural area. There are as many as 156 schools in the district where the school is running with a single teacher.

Burla medicals: students and patients are the worst sufferers

( front view of VSS Medical College)

Imagine a premier medical college of the state does not have a ladies common room or a toilet in the college premises. What would happen when the only toilet that is meant for male students remains in an unhygienic condition? This is exactly the situation in VSS Medical College of Burla which is considered one of the important medical institutions of the state where half of students are female. Located on the bank of river Mahanadi near famous Hirakud dam, the medical college is only institute of this kind in entire western Orissa where patients from neighboring Chhattisgarh have also come to for treatment in the College hospital.  

Named after famous warier of the region, Veer Surrendra Sai, institution has been established in the year 1959 with a vision to serve the people of the region. But the apathetic attitude of the government coupled with the lack of political will-power of the local representatives, the institution still struggles for its existence even after 50 years of its establishment. The present strength of the institution is more than 1000 which include under graduate, post graduates and house surgeons.   

 The institution has two parts. While the college is one side of the main road that leads to Burla town, Hospital is just opposite side of the college. But sanitation is now the biggest ever problem faced by the institution. Although government claims to have spent crore of rupees on waste management and sanitation, the result becomes a big zero which is visible from the condition of the college and hospital. Though hospital authority claims there is sufficient beds for the patients in each and every wards, patients can be seen lying on the floor round the year.  There is also provision of supply bed sheets and mosquito nets to the patients but patients are hardly provided with such items. “We have sufficient quantity of mosquito nets and beddings, but we supply it only when we get a requisition from the concern ward”, hospital manager of the VSS medical college and hospital K Mahanta Said.    

On the other hand the undergraduate students who studying in the institute since last 3 to 4 years revealed that the college library is one of the best, equipped with latest journals and medical books, but they face difficulty because of the air conditioner has been defunct since a long time and the authority takes no step to get it repaired. More over, the library got a Xerox machine and few computers but Xerox is defective one and computers are not connected with internet. “We feel cut off from the outer world with out internet. But our authority does not feel the importance of the net”, a student said. According to him, they have their own arrangement to get connected with the outer world. They also made allegation of regular power cut in the campus area which disturb their study.  

While talking with TOI the students of the medical college raised the point of security of the students as well as patients and doctors. “There is no proper boundary wall for the hostel. We do not feel secured inside the hostels as there is no security arrangement by the government. Domestic animals and stray dogs rule over the entire area. Anti-social elements become a constraint threat for us. In past few doctors have been attacked by such elements. But surprisingly there is no proper security arrangement has been made by the government” another students said.

Medical college's hospital 

Meanwhile, shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff has put barrier in the supply of proper heath services in the hospital. Many important machines remain halt as there are no trained persons to handle these equipments. In some wards machine is functional, but doctors is not available for treatment. “We are trying to improve the situation. But fund becomes a major huddle for us. The dean has no power to purchase any thing. Every thing has been controlled by the government. Equipments are being purchased by the government with out verifying its requirement”, a senior professor of the college said.

On the other hand the citizens and intellectuals of the region expressed concern for the present condition of the medical college and hospital. According to them government do not take step to give autonomous status to the college. “We want autonomous in all fields including finance, administration and academic”, Activist and Lawyer Govind Narayan Agrawal said. According to him, in most of the time, representatives of west Orissa are become the health minister, but they all miserably fail to get a meaningful solution to convert it an autonomous institution by bringing a resolution in the floor of assembly