Once the health capital of Assam, Dibrugarh town has of late, witnessed mushrooming of nursing homes doing brisk business violating laws under the very nose of the authorities.
Archana Trauma and Orthopaedics Hospital located at Paltan bazar area has been running a 30-bedded hospital without any necessary permission. The hospital has got permission for running a physiotherapy clinic only.
Surprisingly, Assam health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, is sweeping aside the problem for reasons best known to him.
Dibrugarh is the place where the first medical institution of the northeast, Dr John Berry White Medical School, was set up in the year 1900.
But with the passage of time, many private nursing homes cropped up in the town violating the building by-laws and rules.
Dibrugarh DC Laya Madduri said the Archana Trauma and Orthopaedics Hospital located at Paltan bazar area has been running a 30-bedded hospital without any permission from the authorities. The healthcare centre has got permission to run a physiotherapy clinic only.
Interestingly, the Dibrugarh district administration, instead of closing down the hospital immediately, apparently has taken a soft stand and given the private nursing home a chance to legalise its illegal business by obtaining the license to run the hospital.
“They have been asked to secure necessary permission for the hospital within 10 days, else they will face closure,” Madduri told Northeast Now.
That the Archana Trauma and Orthopaedics Hospital has been running illegally under the very nose of the authorities was detected only when the district administration took up cudgel to get rid of the traffic menace.
The district authorities during a recent inspection found that four nursing homes and one diagnostics centre of the town- Archana Trauma and Orthopaedics Hospital, MGM Hospital, GM Hospital, HM Hospital and Sun Diagnostics- were running without parking facilities which is in gross violation of existing building by-laws and rules.
“During our inspection, we found that four nursing homes and one diagnostics centre were flouting rules by not having parking facilities in their premises. There is overcrowding of vehicles on the roads in front of the nursing homes. Since there are no parking facilities, people park their cars on the road causing obstruction of traffic. We had a meeting with the nursing home owners on July 21 and they were given ten days time period to make arrangement for adequate parking facilities. If they fail to comply with the order by July 31 we will be forced to shut down the establishments,” Dibrugarh DC Laya Madduri said.
Dibrugarh district administration has set July 31as deadline for the private Nursing homes in Dibrugarh to arrange parking space.
The authorities during the inspection also found that the entire basement of Sun Diagnostics was converted into a reception area, a pharmacy and doctor’s chamber. The owner of the diagnostics centre was directed to vacate the basement and make way for parking space.
One of the violators, the 30-bedded HM Hospital tried to convince the authorities that they had a parking area situated 500 metres away from the hospital, but since it was found to be against the rules, they were strictly ordered to make suitable parking arrangement within the hospital premises in ten days time.
