A delegation of locals from Anantnag town on Wednesday visited office at Press Enclave Srinagar and they alleged that the X-ray plant at Anantnag district hospital is lying defunct from last five days.
The delegates told that its printer is not working due to the technical faults. They said that only one X-ray plant is functional. All patients including those who need immediate medical treatment are suffering due to the problem.
It is pertinent to mention that the Health and Medical Education Department has launched Biomedical Maintenance program to ensure such facilities round the clock 24*7, however the program has failed as the agency which got the contract isn’t maintaining the hospital equipments as it was expected.
According to the eyewitnesses the costly digital X-Ray plant, installed in district hospital Anantnag has been lying defunct from last 5 days, forcing poor patients to travel long distances or cough up money in private clinics. The hospital services more than dozens of villages in the South Kashmir’s Anantnag.
The printer of the plant has also been damaged. Patients suffer a lot due to the non availability of X-Ray facility in the hospital. Residents and patients said despite several pleas the health department has not repaired or replaced the X-Ray machine, causing trouble to hundreds of patients who must either go to expensive private clinics or travel long distances for getting an X-Ray done.
One local resident Rafiq Ahmad said that the machine had developed some fault but the hospital authorities have not been able to repair it since, leaving them dependent on private diagnostic centres.
The patients especially critical patients are facing lots of problems due to lack of the facility inside the hospital,” said Mohammad Umer Khan who was attending an emergency patient.
Locals blamed hospital authorities of carelessness and held them responsible for the damage caused to the digital X-Ray plant.
Residents appealed District Development Commissioner Anantnag to look onto the matter on priority basis.
