Assam: Kokrajhar Medical College faces operational challenges in spite of modern facilities

KOKRAJHAR: To overcome the acute shortage of doctors in the service of people, the government of Assam has so far set up many new medical colleges and hospitals across the state and autonomous council districts and as of now there are 13 government medical college and hospitals and 12 run by private partners. The State government has scripted history by inaugurating three new Medical Colleges-Kokrajhar Medical College and Hospital, Nalbari Medical College and Hospital and Nagaon Medical College and Hospital in a single day in 2023.

On April 14, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated these three medical colleges in Assam, virtually from AIIMS, Guwahati marking a significant enhancement in the state’s medical infrastructure. These institutions started with an intake of 100 MBBS students each, contributing to a total of 1,500 MBBS seats across Assam’s medical colleges. Additionally, the Prime Minister dedicated the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Guwahati, the first AIIMS in the North East, to the nation. This facility aims to provide comprehensive healthcare services to the people of Assam and neighbouring northeastern states. The medical institutions offer a range of courses including MBBS, MD, MS, and various diploma programmes, with admissions typically based on scores from national entrance examinations like NEET UG and NEET PG.

The decades-long demand for establishment of a Medical College in Kokrajhar came into reality after the BTC accord. The Kokrajhar Medical College and Hospital (KMCH) in Assam was formally inaugurated on April 14, 2023 virtually by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi from AIIMS, Guwahati. The KMCH aims to enhance the healthcare facilities and medical education in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The college offers an intake of 100 MBBS students per year and is equipped with modern facilities, including a 500-bed hospital. The KMCH has obtained approval for 2nd batch admission from the National Medical Commission (NMC) on May 15. But the matter of the fact is that there is still a lack of para- medical staff and required machinery in the hospital. Due to lack of radiologists, technicians and other para-medical staff, the CT scan, X-Ray machines and other machineries remained idle and patients had to move to Kokrajhar town nearly 10 km for CT scan and X-Ray. It is also learnt that many patients are referred to other hospitals due to lack of functional CT scan and other machineries.

The Sentinel correspondent visited KMCH to find out the reality and talked to the Superintendent, Additional Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent and Associate Professor. From due permission of the principal-cum-Chief Superintendent Dr. Atul Boro, the Additional Superintendent-Dr. Anupal Sarma and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Amit Kr. Mushahary shared the current status and functioning of KMCH. They said KMCH had a strength of 91 doctors for Medicine, Gynaecology, Paediatrics, ENT, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Dental, Ortho and Surgery departments but there is lack of para-medical staff and radiologists to operate CT scan and X-Ray machines etc. They said due to lack of para-medical staff and technicians the 52 ICUs (36 for adults and rest for children and pregnant women) are not in use. They also said the X-Ray, CT scan machines have already been installed but are not operational due to the lack of technicians. However, they said a radiologist from Guwahati will join KMCH from next Monday and there would be some relief after his joining. The Ultrasonography, Laparoscopic and ECG machines are functional, they said, adding that some of the serious patients with various complications were referred to other hospitals on different grounds.

The medical officers said RN Brahma Civil Hospital, Kokrajhar had been an amalgamated hospital of the KMCH for which some of the medical staff are brought from the civil hospital and the Blood Bank is also being run from the RN Brahma Civil Hospital. The flow of OPD patients is gradually increasing, they said, adding that the number of 108 services in the state is not meeting the demands and the number of the 108 services should be enhanced for better services to the people of remote places.

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