Assam Governor, Janaki Ballabh Pattanaik, who recently fell into the bathroom of Dibrugarh circuit house, had to go to All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for treatment of the fracture .There successful surgery has been done on his ailment. Similarly, when the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi had to go for by-pass surgery, he was advised to go to Mumbai. It all makes the fun of the Assam’s health and family welfare departments, which claims of providing ‘world class’ services in the healthcare sector. It is a question mark on state’s health services?
If the publicity through the advertisements of the Assam government in media is to be believed, the state does not lag behind any other state of the country, so far the health services are concerned. Recently launched Sarathi 104, the revolutionary 24-hour health information helpline is in the service of the people. After Andhra Pradesh Assam is the only state in the country to implement this service. Any medical advice e or health information is reachable through telephone round the clock from every nook and corner of the state. Mrityunjoy 108 Ambulance services are now available throughout the state. Operation Smile is back in Assam and people can avail of surgical corrections for cleft lip and palate free of cost. The department of health and family welfare has been successful in bringing new smiles on the faces of 2030 children and their families in Assam so far. These are the achievements shown in the newspapers of Guwahati and other cities.
Now in harmony with the Government’s effort to make quality healthcare services affordable and accessible, the Model Hospital Construction Scheme has been launched. Under this scheme 60 model hospitals with state-of-the art healthcare facilities would be provided to the people of the state. All this is being done for the welfare of the people by the department of health and family welfare, without improving the condition of already existing hospitals and healthcare centers. However, the VIPs lack faith on such services and prefer to go out of the state for better medical services.
It’s strange that despite such claims, the conditions of the hospitals and medical colleges in the state are not able to bring much relief to the suffering patients from malaria, dengue, swine flu etc. Even the medicines in the hospitals are not given to the patients, who are asked to purchase the same from outside pharmacies. Absence of competent doctors and other staff members is very common incidence. In most of the healthcare centers physicians are found absent. The problems of the ordinary people go unheard. A few cases of service by Mrityunjoy 108 had been reported earlier, when the ambulance reached to pickup patient without having oxygen and other necessary materials.
The VIPs and affluent people can afford to go to big cities for treatment, but it’s not possible for the common people. The state government should have planned to improve the services of the existing hospitals and take services of competent staff instead of laying too many foundation stones for new centers. The model hospital scheme has been started with foundation stone laying ceremonies and so far two foundation stones have been laid. Like many other schemes in the past a section of the society suspects that this scheme would also end with the foundation stones only.
26 Sep 2011 - 1:18pm | Benjamin Kaman
Brahmaputra basin encompassing North East Region of India is one among the water rich basins in the world. Annual available surface water potential of the region (Brahmaputra-Barak basin) is 585.60...
25 Feb 2018 - 5:30am | AT News
GUWAHATI: Hatigaon police have got remand of four persons in their custody for eight days who allegedly shot dead pulse trader Hemant Chorasia in the city. Identified as Mukuta Das, Nur Alom,...
7 Jan 2012 - 3:48pm | editor
The United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday has backed Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav Gogoi for his efforts to give Assam a fresh lease of life on vital fronts.
In an...
Gamusas and Japis are two important items in Assam, which are in much demand throughout the year in the state especially during festival seasons and social functions. These items are demanded by the people to honor the guests and honorable persons during each and every event. However, it has been found that throughout the festival seasons the supply of locally woven gamusas are not according to demand by the customers. The reason behind it is said to be heavy cost of the locally produced items. On the other hand the weavers and traders from other parts of the country take advantage of supplying gamusas at cheaper rates and make more profit despite spending heavy cost on...
Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle, has been trying to take-up the work of repairing of a broken pillar in the Mandap of Hayagriva Madhav Temple at Hajo for a long time. ASI, Guwahati has informed the media through a press note that one of the pillars of ancient temple was broken in three parts due to rusting of the iron dowels holding each other and the other developed cracks due to the same reason and widened more after the earthquake of May 2015. Hayagriva Madhav Temple is a reconstructed temple during the Koch period. The architectural parts of the earlier temple have been used for reconstruction. Different parts of the temple have been used randomly for making the pillars...
There is a generation gap between the signing of Assam Accord on the Independence Day 1985 and the present generation has to face new challenges to compete with the world class people in all spheres of development. The young people are confused over the airing of old issues which have lasted for long 31 years in absence of any solution. The issues pertaining to the Accord have become irrelevant under the present circumstances. The Assam Accord issue is still haunting and confusing the present generation due to absence of a clear picture. The fate of the Accord is not known to the people in general. A few politicians and intellectuals are trying to raise the issues of the accord from time to...
It is an established fact that a person involved in political activities cannot remain in peace till his cherished dreams are fulfilled. This can be noticed through the recent statements of former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who has been expressing his views frequently in media against the four months old BJP-led alliance government in the state under the chief minister ship of Sarwanand Sonowal. He (Gogoi) dares to demand a ‘white paper’ from state government about the steps taken by it to clear the encroachments of forest and other government lands in the state and also to let the people of the state know, what action it has taken to identify and deport the foreign...
Addressing a huge gathering of residents of Udaypur, Jonakpur and Birubari at Udaypur Kali Mandir complex on Sunday, July 3, 2016, East Guwahati Assembly Member, Siddharth Bhattacharjee, emphasized the need of implementing the vision document of development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function organized by Udaypur Yuva Sangha to felicitate him on his success in the recently concluded polls to the state Assembly, he conveyed his thanks to the people of the area for showing their confidence in him. He assured the people that he would not let their confidence go in vain. The meeting was presided over by Dr Phani Borah. Senior citizen of the locality Kartik...
Hardly a few days ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance has taken the reign of Assam administration the results of efforts made by Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi to bring back black money to the state coffer, has started recently with the arrest of Dhemaji Divisional Forest Officer, Mahat Chandra Talukdar by anti-corruption department. For a long time the reports of wildlife crimes were in the air, but the previous state administration ruled by Congress Party under the three-terms leadership of Tarun Gogoi did not try to take any action. The former Chief Minister Gogoi was under a wrong impression that the people who gave him a...
A study conducted by B Boruah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, has revealed that during a decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, cancer cases in the north-eastern part of the country have gone up from 5,404 to 8,708. A campaign, namely, Cycle 4 ride can help control this dreaded disease. In order to raise awareness to fight cancer a lady, namely, Marcellna Sangma, is going to lead a Biker Mission to 600 kms long stretch from Guwahati to Bum La Pass, near Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The ride is scheduled to be flagged off by Dr Amar Chandra Kataki, Director, B Boruah Cancer Institute, on April 21, 2016.Expressing her traumatic experience with cancer, Sangma, who was a cancer patient a decade...
Being disturbed since the first phase of polling for Assam Assembly on April 4 last, the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is finding it difficult to remember the history of Assam agitation propelled by All Assam Students Union (AASU) since the year 1979 to the Independence Day of 1985, resulting in the Assam Accord which was signed between the Assam Government and the movement leaders in presence of erstwhile prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Heavy polling beyond 85 percent of the electorate in the second phase also made Gogoi to think over the majority of young and new voters were not the ‘beneficiaries of getting blankets, yarn and mosquito nets’. They are young, energetic, literate and...
Continuing campaigns for Assam Assembly elections have confused the Assam intellectuals to raise vital issues before the future state legislators and improve the quality of political atmosphere affecting the entire society for quite some time. Almost all political parties have started ‘derogatory’ comments against their rivals for attracting the electorates by their acts and objectives about which they are themselves ignorant. The main reason behind such interpretation is lack of knowledge about the real issues on which the political parties are campaigning. Assam as a state of multi-lingual and religious people continued to be disturbed since the year1979, when several organizations under...
Long awaited North East Graduate Congress, an initiative of Education Research Development Foundation (ERDF) is going to be held from February 26 to 28, 2016. This is the only graduate congress in India being organized by University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in association with RIST and supported by the State Bank of India (SBI). The venue of the congress is the USTM campus at 9th mile, Khanapara. Addressing the media persons in Guwahati on February 14, 2016, the USTM spokesperson informed that the three days congress is aimed to enhance all round development and bring out the capabilities of future graduates through various life skill processes to bring out their...
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