Odishatv Bureau

Rourkela: The Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) inaugurated eight days back in Rourkela by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik still lacks basic infrastructure facilities. There are no beds for patients and there are only two doctors in the hospital in place of eight. While the doctors have to depend on torch light on their mobile to see patients, the water taps in the hospital are also running dry.

"It is a matter of delight that Chief Minister gifted the hospital to residents of Rourkela but it is also a matter of great sorrow that the hospital still lacks electrification due to which the staffs are unable to draw water. It also lacks fire clearance. The hospital is not fully functional and outdoor department is opened only for three hours," said a local resident Rinku Samal.

The 100-bedded MCH was established to provide better health care facilities to the city dwellers. While patients are visiting the hospital in large numbers not a single bed has been placed in the hospital till date, said sources.

"We are using the existing ward from where it was operational earlier. As we have not shifted what is the need of beds now. We also don't have adequate manpower. New paediatricians have not been recruited. So placing beds is not enough; who is going to manage them," said Paediatrician Prashant Kumar Patra.

Patient services had started in the MCH after its inauguration by the Chief Minister on October 22. Now questions are being raised as to why the hospital was inaugurated in a hurry without putting basic facilities in place.

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