Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Dr Mukul Sangma on Tuesday said the government must ensure accountability in connection with the alleged absence of a doctor at Mawiong Community Health Centre (CHC) when the Shillong MP was brought there after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Reacting to the allegations, Dr Sangma said the government has taken suo motu cognisance of the perceived deficiency and ordered an enquiry, but stressed that accountability must follow.
“The government has taken sumotto rather cognizance of this perceive deficiency and said they have ordered an enquiry, they must. Otherwise this will become precedence where nothing happens, there is no accountability. Accountability is for every body.”
He was responding to claims that no doctor was present at Mawiong CHC when Ricky AJ Syngkon was rushed there after collapsing due to a cardiac arrest. The MP was later shifted to Dr. H.G. Roberts Hospital, where he passed away.
Dr Sangma described the incident as symptomatic of a larger systemic failure, alleging that the state’s health delivery system is in disarray.
“The overall state of affairs, the health delivery system today is in a mess and this incident (related to the absence of Doctor in CHC during the cardiac arrest of Shillong MP) is the tip of the iceberg. You have CHC which is on the National Highway, which is very important from all other angles because incase of any road accident, the victim must be able to have access to health care and the nearest one is the CHC. So the limited time available to minimise the changes of loss of life, and minimise the suffering of the victims, beside other normal like what we saw in respect of our late MP Dr Ricky Syngkon, our own MP, it is only because of this incident that it has probably drawn the attention of the people in authorities because it has been widely carried by the Media.”
He further underlined that there is a laid-down institutional mechanism meant to prevent such lapses.
“The mechanism is to ensure that every thing is well put in place, do that there is no dislocation of excess to health care and particularly for emergency cases. There is a hospital management committee, at the level of the community and health centre, every PHC level onwards there is PHC Management committee, CHC Management committee, this is the nomenclature that way where in respect of civil hospital, the hospital management committee should have the deputy Commissioner as the chairman and others from the particular hospital. Therefore there is a laid down mechanism.”
Questioning the gap between budgetary allocations and ground reality, he added:
“It doesn’t mean that just because you are showing such a huge investment to take care of the whole health delivery system to made the health delivery system accessible to the people, spending is one thing but actual reality on ground zero is another thing. That is where the government should take utmost sense of responsibility and accountability and ensure that all the PHCs, CHCs, including the sub centres and all other intervention which has over the years been embarked upon are made optimally functional, operational with the presence of all those man power which are sanctioned against those establishments.”
Alleging administrative irregularities, Dr Sangma further claimed that the practice of deploying doctors away from their sanctioned posts has aggravated the crisis.
“There is an tendency of the health department is to resort to deployment of the manpower in different PHCs and CHCs. In the name of deployment any doctors who are posted in PHCs and CHCs are being deployed elsewhere, than that CHC or PHC for which post is actually sanctioned. This so called deployment of the workforce is another modus operandi which is creating this kind of situation.”
“In the instant case also we have to find out what exactly has happened,” he added.
Health System in a Mess, Mawiong CHC Incident Only Tip of Iceberg: Mukul Sangma
