KAZIRANGA, July 28 - Notwithstanding the tall claims made by the State Health and Family Welfare Department, the newly-constructed 30-bed Model Hospital at Kaziranga (Kohora), is not likely to see the light of the day in the near future, as the construction work of the necessary staff quarters is yet to begin.
According to sources at the Golaghat Heath department, there was no project proposal for the construction of the required number of doctors and staff quarters in the drawing map that was subsequently handed over to engineers involved in the construction of the hospital. Already the appointments of four doctors, four staff nurses, two pharmacists, two ward boys and two ward girls had been completed but the question arises as to whether these appointed doctors and staff will be able to deliver 24-hour services as two operations theatres (OTs) including a labour room and general surgery need sufficient number of doctors and paramedical staff to perform operations like gall bladder stone surgery, appendicitis etc. There would be facilities for x-ray and ultra sonography also. Without having any staff quarters, these medical staff would have to stay either at Bokakhat or some other places since Kaziranga does not have sufficient number of rented houses also, as most of the people rent out their available rooms to tourists during the tourist season.
Interestingly, the model hospitals at Dergaon, Khumtai and Uriamghat under Golaghat district have sufficient quarters for their doctors and staff. The building construction of the Kohora Model Hospital has been completed and is expected to be handed over to the State Health department within July 31.
Pradip Gogoi, a native of Kaziranga wondered what the Government was planning to do in this model hospital at Kohora without constructing a single staff quarter because this would result in no benefits and services to the people of Kaziranga who had been demanding a good hospital having facilities to treat the patients during odd hours. He said this would create unnecessary chaos if doctors and nurses were not available during any emergency. It is worth mentioning that Kaziranga being an international tourists place, a full-fledged hospital with necessary doctors and staff are needed for 20 hours at Kohora so that proper services can be delivered to the needy, including international and domestic tourists. The Government now needs to step up its activities to start the construction of staff quarters at Kohora Model Hospital before its inauguration because the mere opening of the said hospital would lead to unnecessary chaos and confusion among the people of Kaziranga due to non-availability of doctors during night time.
