Youths draw Health Minister's attention on need for advanced facilities at SMCH
Silchar, May 18: Thousand Sayantan, a group of youngsters for better health facilities in Barak Valley has drawn the attention of Minister of Health and Family Welfare Keshab Mahanta on the need to upgrade health infrastructure at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) including the initiation of the much awaited installation of Cath lab at the hospital at the earliest.
In a meeting with the Health Minister at Circuit House on Monday during the former's two-day visit to Barak to assess the COVID-19 situation, Rohit Choudhury vice president of the group along with secretary Binayak Bhattacharjee submitted a memorandum on behalf of members of Thousand Sayantan urging the Minister to respond to the demands for the larger interest of the people of southern Assam.
Among other demands placed by the youth group include full-fledged neurosurgical treatment at the SMCH for treatment of cases due to traumatic head injuries, appointment of regular Cardiologist, Neurologists and other specialist doctors, implementation of the DPR to upgrade SMCH at par with AIIMS. The youths informed the Minister that the DPR dated 25/02/2020 on this issue was prepared by the authorities of SMCH and sent to the Government back in February 2020. The youths, including Saumitra Shankar Choudhury, a frontline member of the group urged the Health Minister for taking steps to set up more ICUs and multiple oxygen plants for meeting the crisis during the battle against COVID-19 pandemic here at the SMCH.
"25 year old Sayantan Chakraborty lost his life in October 2019 due to the lack of Angioplasty at the SMCH. Since the incident there have been rising demands from people across Barak Valley for up-scaling health infrastructure at the hospital including Angioplasty, Cath Lab, etc which caters to over 40 lakh people of southern Assam. Even if it is for a period of six months, we express our heartfelt gratitude to your department for the approval of Dr Rakesh Gopal, the visiting cardiologist from Apollo Hospital Chennai to treat patients at the SMCH which has brought relief to the people here. We have great expectations and hopes on you and we firmly believe you will take initiatives to fulfill the demands for the greater interest of the people so that a person afflicted with a stroke or severe heart attack has to rush too far off place for life saving medical attention," the members maintained.
