Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Nurpur, Rakesh Pathania on Wednesday categorically said the that Dr Rajender Prasad Medical College hospital in Tanda in Kangra district is in very bad shape, and the patients are suffering there every day for want of facilities.

Moving a calling attention motion in the House, Pathania said that the government must pay attention towards the premier institution, on which people of the lower areas are dependent for medical emergencies. He said the people are routinely referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

He said that the were already many vacancies in faculty in the medical college, still the medical college teachers are being sent to other medical colleges in the state to fulfil Medical Council of India norms.

Pathania said the patients were suffering every day for lack of facilities. He said ventilators in the hospital were not as per requirement. “There are so many snakebite patients in the lower areas and ventilators are required in routine,” he said.

He said patients in the 829 bedded hospital can be seen accommodated in corridors. The toilets are in bad shape. “The whole machinery swings into action when any political leader goes there for inspection, but things are back to square one after that,” said Pathania.

In his reply, Health minister,Vipin Singh Parmar said the Tanda medical college was set up in 1997 and the bed strength was 500. The beds were later upgraded to 800, but it has the facilities as per 500 beds.

He said the government was continuously concerned over the state of affairs in the hospital and was trying to upgrade facilities as per need. He said Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital and Tanda Medical College are two prestigious institutions in the state.

“The IGMC had supported the Tanda Medical College come up by sharing the staff for the requirement of Medical Council of India. So Tanda Medical College is now supporting other medical colleges. But this is temporary,” he said.

He said the government was trying to recruit more doctors and specialists. “The state will ultimately have six medical colleges functioning and more doctors will come out to serve in the state,” he said.

Intervening in the reply, the chief minister said it’s not that the problems in the Tanda Medical College have cropped up in one day. “These have been there for long. Sometimes, we do small little interventions, which are big for individuals. The government will put in every effort to improve the things in Tanda Medical College hospital,” he said.

He told the health department to actively monitor the conditions in every hospital, especially the cleanliness part on day to day basis, pro-actively.