The quality of care at Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital (HMCH) has deteriorated after it was upgraded from a sadar hospital, local politicians and residents say.

The hospital has 112 doctors and 80 nurses and attendants. It gets around 1,000-1,500 patients daily from Koderma, Chatra, Ramgarh, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh and Bokaro.

And it has been reduced to a health centre that only treats minor diseases. No big surgeries take place here. Ironically the Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital, the earlier avatar, used to enjoy a good reputation.

In 2018, it had performed the highest number of C-section operations in the state.

On Monday, social worker Devendra Singh Deo met Hemant Soren and drew the chief minister’s attention to the poor condition of the hospital and sought his intervention to bring it back on track.

State health minister Banna Gupta on Monday also admitted the crisis of doctors at state-run healthcare hubs, and promised to fill up vacancies on priority.

A number of recent cases have brought to focus the deterioration at HMCH.

On February 1, Parvati Birhor, belonging to the near-extinct Birhor tribe, complained to local BJP MLA Manish Jaiswal that she was yet to undergo a surgery for gallstones even after a week at the hospital.

Another recent patient, Ritu Laheri, who was suffering from giddiness, was asked by a doctor to go a private hospital, prompting her relatives to approach Jaiswal.

An angry Jaiswal had rushed to the hospital and demanded an answer from hospital superintendent K.K. Lal who said the surgery couldn’t be done because of manpower crunch.

Jaiswal also told the hospital authorities to either shape up or face stern action. Later, Lal issued a showcause to a doctor, asking him to reply within 48 hours and began the treatment of both the patients.

Last month, a resident of Gurhet village under Sadar block, Ruplal Yadav, died allegedly unattended at the hospital.

Senior doctor A.K Choudhary, who was then in charge of the hospital in the absence of superintendent Lal, had said a probe into the cause of Ruplal’s death had been initiated and efforts were on to improve the condition of the hospital.

District civil surgeon Dr Krishna Kumar admitted that the quality of medical service had deteriorated at HMCH.

“The doctors are not serious enough about their duty,” the civil surgeon said. “Despite knowing about poor condition of HMCH, Lal is not taking any step in this regard. I cannot intervene directly. I need a directive from higher authorities to do so.”

CPM leader Ganesh Citu said he was shocked when a woman who had gone to the hospital for a family planning operation was asked to go to a private clinic to get her intrauterine device removed before the surgery.

“Shalu Devi, a resident of Ichak Mor, had to pay Rs 3,000 to the doctor at the clinic for a procedure that could have easily been done by a trained nurse at HMCH,” Citu said. “For 20 years, I have been helping hundreds of patients undergo complicated surgeries at the sadar hospital. What is the use of upgrading it if the doctors prescribe medicines that even a quack can do? Earlier doctors used to do everything despite the limited resources. Of what use is the big buildings when the basic facilities are missing?”

MLA Jaiswal’s media in-charge Ranjan Choudhary agreed the upgrade had resulted in deterioration of quality.

“Committed doctors were transferred and new doctors took their place after the upgrade. Now, the doctors here are more concerned with the formalities and paper work even when the patient is serious,” Chouhdary claimed.

The hospital, which earned an ISO tag, also used to conduct a number of complicated surgeries in its earlier avatar. Things started to deteriorate after the sadar hospital was upgraded to HMCH following the inauguration of the medical college in February last year. Many had hoped that the hospital would be developed along the lines of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.

A Medical Council of India team, which visited the 300-bed hospital in May and November last year, had flagged 36 loopholes and asked HMCH to fix them before filing a fresh application for affiliation. The HMCH approached Supreme Court, which has fixed March 2 as the date for the hearing.

The apex court has, however, allowed the medical college to take admission for the MBBS course.