Nagaland Health minister tells DHD officials to set things right, reconstruct hospital morgue

DIMAPUR — Minister of Health and Family Welfare, P Paiwang Konyak on Saturday warned doctors at the District Hospital Dimapur (DHD) of consequences if found engaging in parallel private practices.

The government of Nagaland had issued an order late last month, directing the in-service government doctors who are availing non-practicing allowance (NPA) to stop private practice or forgo their NPA within one month, failing which, it said will take action as per the Nagaland Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1968 and the Nagaland Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1967.

Speaking during the review meeting of the DHD, the Health minister said that engaging in private practices will not only cause trouble to the doctors but also the healthcare facilities they are involved with.

I hope none of the 27 doctors in this hospital are practising in other private health centres, he told the gathering.

The legislator, who also inspected the facilities at the hospital, expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of morgue and pulled up those behind the project, asking them to immediately redo the construction. He assured to increase the pace of work, saying that the construction of the morgue has been dragging on for too long.

He went on to ask the health officials at the hospital to maintain the OPD timing, which is from 9 am to 3 pm, and to put up a visible sign board on the same so that patients will be aware of the timing.

Maintaining that he was there, as the Health minister, to make a difference, he said the health workers too should make a difference to the lives of the people.

Acknowledging the shortage of manpower, as conveyed by the Medical Superintendent (MS) of DHD, he assured to strengthen the workforce, while requesting the officials to understand the situation of the department with 26 assistant professors being deployed at the just opened Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMSR) in Kohima, the first medical college of the state.

Konyak also said that the Health department undertake a major reshuffle starting from the directorate level and that rationalisation would be exercised as per the OPD load.

Risk of fogging to combat dengue

Amid the spike in dengue cases in Dimapur, he said there is an increasing public demand for fogging in the hope of containing the spread of the disease. On this, he asked the district vector borne diseases control programme to create awareness and educate the people about the ill-effects of fogging.

Dengue patients should be isolated to curb the spread of the disease, he said.  

INR 66.50 lakh for equipment

The Health minister also announced that he would give INR 66.50 lakh to procure medical equipment for District Hospital Dimapur, from his personal end.  

The medical equipment proposed to be procured include:

•             1688 4K camera control unit UHD (3840 x 2160)

•             1688 4K camera head integrated coupler

•             Precision LED light source

•             Fibre optic cable

•             32” 4K monitor

•             19” SV-2 flat panel monitor stand

•             Precision ideal eyes 10MM 30”

•             20L insufflators

•             CO2 tank yoke and CO2 tank hose

•             EPK-V1500c video processor

•             EG27-V10c gastroscope

•             EC38-V10cL colonoscope

•             Highness 27” medical grade monitor

•             Pentax trolley

•             CaptureITPro 2.0

Also read: Dimapur needs modern infrastructure, good drainage system, says Nagaland Governor