DIBRUGARH, Dec 25 — Assam Medical College, a name that was once looked upon in awe, was once-upon-a-time one of the five best medical institutions in Asia. Today, all that is history. And the Assam Medical College (AMC) epitomizes sheer neglect and despondency. Talking to The Assam Tribune here, office bearers of the AMC unit of the Federation of Junior Doctors, Assam spoke in detail of the decrepit condition of the institution. They stressed that the sole blame for the state of affairs here falls on the Assam Government, which has lost interest in the medical college after the demise of the then Chief Minister, Hiteswar Saikia. His successors and their cabinet colleagues in the state health ministry have showed no interest in the development and maintenance of the medical college here, which has contributed to the state of collapse here.
Take any department at the AMC as a case study, and it becomes apparent that matters have almost reached a state of no return. The hospital section is the worst off, while the college section is somewhat better off. But here too, unless the government fills up faculty vacancies fast, the Medical Council of India will waste no time in de-recognizing various departments. Already on the chopping board are five departments: dermatology, microbiology, social preventive medicine and psychiatry. These departments currently have a provisional recognition from the council. It is learnt that the council is insisting on proper teacher-student ratios, current teaching aids and tools for the departments to be fully recognized. And if the departments are derecognized due to continued government apathy, students passing out of the institution would be barred from becoming registered medical practitioners! This is how serious the matter is.
The emergency ward of the hospital at the AMC, also known as the casualty ward is one of the places which needs a massive renovation and upgradation. Almost everything here needs to be replaced. The emergency operation theatre, which was inaugurated last year amidst much fanfare, is today a locked room. This ‘facility’ was constructed at a cost of Rs 7.5 lakh made available from Paban Singh Ghatowar’s MP Local Area Development Fund. The irony is that OT equipment was hurriedly placed at the new room from other OTs of the hospital for the ‘inauguration ceremony’.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that all hospital OTs have to conform to ISO 9002 specifications. One doubts if there is any hospital OT anywhere in the North-east that meets this specification. Commenting on the deficiencies of the AMC and its adjoined hospital, the junior doctors of the institution spoke of the need for provision of emergency medicines, life saving drugs and surgical accessories at the casualty ward. Stress was also laid on having a portable X-ray machine, Boyle’s Apparatus, ultrasound machine etc, for exclusive use at the ward. They said they would appreciate the posting of permanent police guards at the ward, for purposes of safety and security of the medical personnel.
The Assam Medical College does not have a central sterilization unit, which is so necessary to clean OT equipment. Acutely unreliable power and water supply to the hospital wards is another area of concern. Surgeons often have to perform surgery under torch lights, as the ASEB-provided power is erratic, at best. At an important institution like the AMC, one expects a decent Intensive Care Unit. This basic necessity too is missing here. The building that houses the cardiac ICU at the AMC is nothing but a joke. The place is not air conditioned, neither does it have any of the equipment one sees in ICUs elsewhere.
Even the equipment that is there at the AMC, like the CT scanner, the radiation therapy Theratron machine, barium mill and the ultrasound scanner, are all in a state of disrepair. The college library no longer boasts of being a subscriber to various medical journals. The stock of books too has become dated, with no new books being purchased. The junior doctors are complaining of inadequate hostel accommodation. This deficiency makes half of the PG students to live in rented premises outside the AMC campus. This poses several problems, like difficulty in attending to emergency duty in the night hours. A foundation was laid for a 200-seater PG students’ hostel in 1993. In these ten years, not a brick has been laid after the foundation stone laying. Ironically, Dr Bhumidhar Barman, who is also the present health minister, then laid the foundation. This minister also laid the foundation to a neuroscience complex at the AMC here the same year. Nothing more has happened in this case too.
A modern communication set-up is taken for granted in institutions like medical colleges. In the case of the AMC, the EPABX machine was taken out of service after it developed some snags a couple of years ago. There is no inter communication network anywhere within the college and the hospital complex. As for the PG students’ stipends, the amount paid to medical PG students in Assam are along the lowest in the country. They receive just Rs 4400 a month, compared to Rs 10,000 in neighbouring West Bengal and Orissa. The junior doctors are not even asking for Rs 10,000 a month: they want Rs 7,000 for the first year, etc.