Finance Minister, Health Secy make surprise inspections at RIMS

Pioneer News Service
Ranchi

Jharkhand Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore and Health Secretary Ajay Kumar Singh on Monday made a surprise inspection of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences medical facilities. The two senior officials visited RIMS’s Trauma Building, Central Emergency and Critical Care Department’s ICU. Seeing numerous vacant spaces in the ICU ward, the finance minister and Health Secretary took RIMS Director Dr. DK Sinha to task. They asked why there were no beds. The RIMS administration responded that the old beds had broken down and the process of procuring new beds was currently underway.

Immediately after receiving an answer regarding the bed shortage, Health Secretary Ajay Kumar Singh questioned the RIMS management about the availability of life-saving equipment at the hospital. He asked why there had been such a delay in procuring the much-needed ventilators. The RIMS management responded by stating that the paperwork for the purchase of 13 new ventilators was currently in the final stages and would be completed soon. During this meeting, the Minister and Secretary were also briefed on upcoming plans for the expansion of the Critical Care Department. Officials were informed that 16 new beds would soon be installed after demolishing the old BSNL building on the campus, and work on this has already begun.

 Taking the hospital’s poor condition seriously, the Health Secretary strictly instructed the RIMS administration to immediately rectify all incomplete systems. He stated categorically that an important review meeting of the RIMS Governing Body (GB) would be held within the next 15 to 20 days. He stated that all these fundamental deficiencies and shortcomings of the hospital must be addressed before that meeting. Secretary held a high-level meeting with all Heads of Departments (HODs) of RIMS. He clearly instructed that all dilapidated and unusable buildings on the RIMS campus should be demolished immediately and new, modern medical facilities constructed there. He reminded that RIMS has a leading role in the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission across the state, and therefore, it is essential to radically improve internal systems.

 The finance minister and Health Secretary spent about an hour in the Trauma Building. During this time, they also took cognizance of a tragic incident. On Monday, a fifth patient from the same family from Palamu, admitted to the Critical ICU ward of RIMS, died during treatment. The condition of a sixth female member of the same family remains critical and she is being treated on ventilator support.