Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Mar 29: The Green Arunachal Foundation (GAF) has said that it opposes the state government’s move to attach the Tomo Riba State Hospital (TRSH) with the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS).
Addressing reporters at the press club here on Thursday, GAF chairman Takam Tatung demanded that the state government retain the independent status of the TRSH instead of attaching it with the TRIHMS.
“The organisation does not object to the establishment of a medical college, but strongly objects to attachment of Papum Pare district’s lone referral hospital with the soon-to-start medical college,” Tatung said.
The GAF also said that it has apprehensions that attaching the two may affect the whole health scenario in terms of patient care.
Its members claimed that the attachment would deprive tuberculosis and cancer patients from receiving the benefits offered by the government, besides creating issues in postmortem and use of the morgue, “as these facilities do not come under the ambit of an educational institution.”
However, the organisation did not provide any documents to substantiate its claim.
It further raised concern over the fate of the 487 employees working under the TRSH, who will reportedly be transferred en-masse once the TRIHMS receives the letter of permission (LOP) from the Medical Council of India (MCI).
Earlier, on 13 November, 2017, the GAF had submitted a representation to the governor and apprised him of the difficulties that might be encountered by the staff and doctors of the state hospital once it is merged with the medical college.
It also reminded the state government that a plot of land for a 500-bedded medical college and hospital was allotted at Pachin Colony by the then deputy prime minister LK Advani, and asked why the government was reluctant to establish the medical college there.
Taking a jibe at the state government, the GAF said, “If the state government is in a hurry to establish a medical college, it may shift the state hospital to the dysfunctional official bungalow of the chief minister. That way, the state hospital would retain its independent status.”
TRIHMS, the state’s first medical college, is expected to start as soon as it receives an LOP from the MCI, a team of which is expected to visit the state soon.
