SILCHAR, Nov 12 - Much to the relief of the poor patients who come for free-of-cost pacemaker implants at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) from Barak Valley and also from the adjoining States of Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram, pacemaker surgery at the hospital which was stopped a few weeks ago due to lack of experts, has resumed, courtesy a special permission from the Directorate of Medical Education, Assam.
Dr AS Baishya, Superintendent of SMCH told The Assam Tribune on Sunday �following the recent closure of the pacemaker surgery, there was a lot of hue and cry across the valley. This led to the efforts to solve the issue and eventually the DME sought information regarding eligible doctors available to conduct the surgeries.
Presently, Dr Ahmed Hussain Choudhury, Registrar of the hospital has been doing the implants and a number of cases on emergent basis have been addressed since the resumption so far.
However, when asked if the recommencement of pacemaker surgeries ends the stalemate, Dr Baishya replied that unless the Department of Cardiology gets either an Associate Professor or even an Assistant Professor with a DM degree, the issue would remain unresolved.
It may be mentioned that Dr PC Sarma, Head of the Department of Cardiology of the hospital has been transferred from here. Dr Barnali Dutta who replaced the veteran cardiologist is on leave following health issues which has given rise to the scarcity.
On the other hand, drawing the attention of Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, local consumer forum Grahak Suraksha Samiti has demanded immediate steps to settle the standoff which is affecting poor patients at large.