The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two more AIIMS-like medical institutions, one in West Bengal and the other in Uttar Pradesh, at a cost of Rs. 823 crore each.

The Cabinet also decided to upgrade five government medical colleges in five States to the AIIMS level, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters.

“The proposed institution in West Bengal will come up at Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. The site for the AIIMS-like college and hospital in Uttar Pradesh has not yet been identified,” he said.

Raiganj is represented in the Lok Sabha by ailing Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.
960-bed hospital

Each institution, to be set up under the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY), will have a 960-bed hospital will provide healthcare facilities in 39 speciality or super-speciality disciplines.

There will be 500 beds for the medical college hospital; 300 for speciality or super-speciality, 100 for ICU or accident trauma, 30 for physical medicine and rehabilitation and 30 beds dedicated to Ayush (Ayrvedic, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy). The medical college will have a 100 under-graduate intake, besides facilities for imparting post-graduate or doctoral courses and a nursing college.

The Cabinet also approved upgrading of the government medical colleges in Amritsar (Punjab), Tanda (Himachal Pradesh), Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Nagpur (Maharashtra) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Upgrading of each medical college will be done at an estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore. Of this, the Centre will contribute Rs. 125 crore and a minimum amount of Rs. 25 crore will be borne by the respective State governments.

In respect of the Aligarh Muslim University, Rs. 25 crore will be provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Three persons have died in the last 10 days of malignant malaria at Santalpara in Bahin gram panchayat, North Dinajpur district. The disease has affected 20 others. Some of the affected are undergoing treatment at Raiganj district hospital.
The deceased were identified as Mohan Hansda (45), Jagu Hansda (38) and Pramila Das (40). All three died in Raiganj hospital. Six of the affected are undergoing treatment in Raiganj district hospital. However seven-year-old Ajit Hansda is in a critical condition. The district health department officials suspect that the Hansda brothers, who had been to Dumka in Jharkhand recently to attend a marriage ceremony returned to North Dinajpur affected by malaria. According to the chief medical officer of health, North Dinajpur district, Dr S S Shahoo, pathology reports indicate that the deceased were affected by malignant malaria.
“A health team under the guidance of the block medical officer of health, Raiganj Dr Gautam Mandal visited the affected village and collected blood samples of the locals. “To prevent it from further spreading, bleaching powder is being sprinkled all over the village and the weeds are being uprooted. The villagers have been instructed to use mosquito nets,” he added.
Panic has gripped Raiganj following reports of the malarial deaths. The town is still apprehensive about the unknown disease that killed 17 children in June this year in the villages of Karandighi block in the district.
Although several teams of medical experts including those from the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata, National Institute of Virology Department in Pune and National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi visited the region after the outbreak of the fever, it still remains undetected.

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The blood bank at the Raiganj district hospital is facing an acute shortage of blood, much to the concern of the patients admitted. Friends and relatives of patients are finding it hard to collect a unit of blood and donors are rare. The problem, according to doctors, intensified as blood donation camps cannot be held now as the preparations for the panchayat poll is in full swing.
A staff of the blood bank in Raiganj district hospital Mr Brojen Chakraborty said: “The patients’ friends and relatives are being asked to manage donors for blood required for their patients. In most cases, they fail to arrange donors.” Mr Surya Gupta of Karandighi whose relative is admitted for treatment, said: “We required one unit of ‘B’ positive group of blood for our patient but the blood was not available in the blood bank. We could not get hold of a donor either. So, the surgery of our patient has been held up.”
The superintendent of Raiganj district hospital Dr Swapan Kumar Paul said: “The blood crisis arose after the workers’ unions and political parties, who took the initiative to organise bringing blood to the hospital stopped holding blood donation camps as they are busy with panchayat elections.”
“To reduce the crisis we have requested some social welfare organisations to hold blood donation camps in order to save the patients. Some non-political organisations assured us that they would organise blood donation camps shortly,” he said.

RAIGANJ, April 13: Mrs Tapasi Sarkar, a patient who was harassed allegedly by Dr Tapas Kumar Ghosh, a gynaecologist of Raiganj district hospital in his chamber at Ukilpara in Raiganj this morning has lodged a complaint with the district magistrate of North Dinajpur.
During pregnancy she was allegedly being treated by Dr TK Ghosh and when she was experiencing labour pain the doctor advised her to get admission in a nursing home. But she admitted herself in Raignaj district hospital and gave birth to a male baby there. As the patient did get admission in the nursing home so the doctor allegedly were denying to check her health in his chamber in post delivery period. Today when she visited his chamber ,the doctor allegedly scolded him in filthy languages. Then she returned and registered a complaint against him.

RAIGANJ,April 11: Patients are facing a crisis after the eco-cardiography service suddenly stopped functioning in Raiganj district hospital.
Reportedly in absence of eco-cardiography both cardiac patients and the patients who needed surgical operations are facing a great ordeal.Those below poverty line were worst affected by this in the hospital.The poor cardiac patients and the patients who were admitted for surgical operations were getting eco-cardiography from out side thus putting a burden on their finances.Even this absence of eco-cardiography has affected the national ligetion programme in the hospital. The superintendent of Raiganj district hospital Dr Swapan Kumar Paul said,due to an absence of technicians this facility was stopped in Raiganj district hospital.”Our contractual technician who was serving ECG unit here recently joined in Karandighi hospital of our distirct as a regular staff.Then new technician did not turn up. So ECG unit stopped functioning,”he clarified.
The subject was brought to the notice of the chief medical officer of health of North Dinajpur, Dr S S Sahoo who assured that the crises would be soon sorted out.
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