20-bedded Dialysis Unit in GMC’s Super Specialty Hospital non functional for last 3 days; patients suffering

Malu Sharma

The dialysis patients are facing hardships as the dialysis unit is not functioning due to some fault in RO Plant of Government Super Speciality Hospital (SSH) Jammu, and dialysis of even a single patient could not be done in the Hospital.
Several attendants of the dialysis patients who had prior appointments for dialysis in SSH Jammu and have come from far-flung areas, shared that doctors have told them to go to SMGS hospital or come on some other day as the RO Plant of the Hospital is not in a working condition.
It is pertinent to mention here that there is no professor in Nephrology department in GMC. posts of Profs, Associate professor, Assistant professors are lying vacant in GMC’s nephrology department which is at SSH and doctors from health department are attached here as there are a number of dialysis patients in Jammu.
Patients are crying and appealing government to intervene so that this unit can start functioning soon. The closure of dialysis unit in SSH has proved to be beneficial for private centres only. Sources informed STATE TIMES that SSH management has given the contract of maintaining the dialysis unit to some private company and they are doing the job. The question arises why the hospital administration is silent and not taking any action against the private company?
While talking to STATE TIMES many patients and their attendants expressed their inability to go to private dialysis centres in Jammu as they are very costly and they cannot afford it. Ram Kumar, who has come from Reasi for the dialysis of her mother shared, “I used to come here with my mother for dialysis twice a week and I cannot afford to miss the same as my mother’s both kidneys have been damaged and missing or delaying dialysis for a day or two can be dangerous for her life. But here no one is concerned about our problems. SSH Jammu is such a big institution and there must be backup RO Plant. How administration of the Hospital can be so negligent ? We are poor people and cannot afford to go to private hospital for dialysis”.
Sources told STATE TIMES that some fault erupted on 13th June, morning in RO Plant of SSH Jammu due to which the dialysis could not be done in the Hospital. Its more than 5 days now, but hospital administration has done nothing to get it repaired and patients are suffering due to this.
While talking to STATE TIMES Principal GMC, Dr Shashi Sudan said, “Dialysis in SSH is closed due to some fault in machines and meanwhile dialysis is being done in GMC and SMGS. We are working to make it functional within 24 hours. We have a 34 bedded unit for dialysis here in GMC and are conducting dialysis here. Moreover, we have called the concerned and the machines at SSH will be functional soon.”