Negligence by STNM Hospital management & Health Dept towards attack victims: State BJP

GANGTOK,: The State BJP has come down strongly on the STNM Hospital management and Heath department following the murderous attack on Dr. Sanjay Upreti and sanitary attendant Kala Chettri on December 14.
The victims sustained serious injuries in the knife attack by a 42-year-old man and are presently battling for life in a private hospital at Siliguri.
“Since the incident, taking into account the current health condition of the injured health workers, there seems a lot of negligence by the STNM Hospital management and the Health department in this critical matter,” said State BJP spokesperson Raju Giri in a Friday press statement.
Giri contended that the hospital management, Health department and the State government were “inactive” to ensure proper treatment to the assaulted Health workers as the current condition of the injured victims show.
“We, as well as the entire Sikkimese community, have been realizing that the condition of these health workers would have been different today if they were referred within a few hours by assessing the gravity of the situation in time,” said the State BJP spokesperson.
“It is unfortunate that in the incident that took place inside the hospital, the injured could not get proper treatment and were referred only after the intervention of the Chief Minister almost 24 hours after the incident. If so much negligence is seen in the treatment of a specialist doctor of the hospital, it is easy to estimate how much the general public is suffering.”
“The fact that the concerned minister himself is a senior doctor but does not show proper readiness regarding the seriousness of the situation is another matter of concern. It can be easily inferred that the focus of the government and the department was on other issues rather than the life of the injured health workers,” said Giri.
“The BJP Sikkim urges the concerned department and the government to review the management system of STNM Hospital and take appropriate steps to prevent such negligence in the future. We also demand the review of the Referral Code System as well as urgent up-gradation of the surgery department of the STNM Hospital.”
“On the other hand, despite occasional demands for the safety of health workers, the government and the administration have not taken any serious initiative in this regard. This incident has been an eye-opener to everyone. The government has also promised to improve the security arrangements, but we demand to ensure the internal and external security of the hospitals by implementing it seriously and expeditiously,” said the State BJP spokesperson.