Shillong, May 12: Over 40 patients are facing hardships as the dialysis unit at the Shillong Civil Hospital is not functional.
During a visit to the hospital, several patients have aired their concerns.
The civil hospital authorities have admitted the problem and said the matter was taken up with the government.
A patient identified as Eldis Lyngdoh (50) has been carrying out dialysis since 2019 but frequent mechanical failures have affected her treatment.
27- year-old Baiviolet Lamare came to the hospital thrice but in vain.
Sumshad Begum (37) from Damsite, Umiam regularly visits the hospital but hardly gets the desired treatment.
They said due to financial constraints, they are not able to go to private hospitals.
The civil hospital functionaries said the problem may be due to overworking of dialysis machine since 2017 with minor servicing.
For the RO (Reverse Osmosis) system, 500 litre of water per hour is required.
The civil hospital authorities had written to Meghalayan Medical Drugs and Essential Services Limited (MMDSL) to address the issue.
Dr K Marbaniang, senior medical specialist cum in-charge dialysis unit on May 2 wrote to additional director of health services, who forwarded the letter to the Managing Director MMDSL for a new RO of higher capacity and new dialysis machines for the dialysis unit.
The letter said the old RO sponsored by NEC procured from the SANBHA MEDICAL was installed ion February 16, 2017 and it has been giving problems off and on at present. After the warranty was over they have informed and requested the higher authorities several times regarding the CMC. It was only in 2022 when there was a major breakdown of the R.O and Dialysis was stopped that the CMC was offered and service was done by the same parent company following which it started functioning for almost 2 years. Recently again there was another breakdown and one time service was offered by MMDSL to the R.G Enterprise but following which the R.O was functioning only for a month.
“I would also like to bring to your notice that the New R.O procured by MMDSL from R.G. Enterprise was installed in March this year and was found to supply insufficient treated water to all the available dialysis machines. It is worth mentioning here that according to the quotation this new R.O should supply 250 L/hour but in reality it is supplying(less than 200L/hour). I hereby request you to look into the matter at the earliest as so much inconveniences are faced by both the patients and staff to carry on routine dialysis work and to give quality service to the patients. I humbly request you if you can replace the 7 year-old RO with a new one preferably of higher capacity (500 L/hour) so that our routine work is not interrupted and the quality of services will not be compromised.May I also add that the 3 (three) Frenesius Machine which was donated by the Universal SAMPO Annual Insurance in 2022 needs servicing (CMC but is still under process) The reduced number of machines along with the prolonged treatment hours for each patient have caused so much inconveniences to the patients, burn out of the staff and worn out of the existing machines. May I have the honour to request your kind authority to provide more dialysis machines preferably B-Braun Dialog Plus Model as we have seen from observation and experience that the machines require low maintenance with high durability compared to the other brands”, the letter said.
Earlier, the civil hospital authorities had called the engineer who is from Kolkata . He is waiting for the railway ticket as the company is not ready to arrange flight ticket
