Health officials yet to visit site
[ Taba Ajum ]
MIDPU, Jun 24: With a lot of chaos prevailing due to declaration of the Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) as Covid-19 hospital, the health department is under pressure to complete the construction of the dedicated 35-bedded prefabricated Covid-19 hospital here in Papum Pare district.
The prefabricated Covid-19 hospital which is coming up near the mental health hospital here was supposed to be ready by now.
However, the progress of work has been hampered due to delay in arrival of prefabricated cabins.
Seven prefabricated cabins will be installed to accommodate five beds, making it a 35-bedded hospital.
Till date, only five cabins have arrived and that too in separate batches.
“The first two cabins arrived on 25 May and another two on 3 June. One more cabin arrived today. But as per agreement, two cabins were supposed to arrive after every week. All cabins should have arrived by now,” an official working at the site informed.
He informed that the delay in the arrival of the cabin is affecting the work.
“If the cabins arrive on time we will be able to deliver the whole hospital within 10 days. But the delay and their arrival in batches is affecting the entire project,” he added.
He also said other works like water connection and construction of septic tanks for toilets are already complete.
The official further expressed surprise over the lack of interest from the health department.
“The cabins have been ordered by the health department and this hospital is being constructed for them. But not a single official from the health department has visited to check whether the work is going on properly or not. This lack of interest has really surprised us,” he added.
It was also reported that heavy rains have affected the progress of the work.
“The hospital is coming up on a land where the earth cutting was done very recently. This has made things complicated as the soil is very loose now. We had to do a lot of sand and gravel filling to stabilize the whole area. The trucks carrying cabins also got stuck a couple of times,” he added.
Further, some cabins have suffered minor damages during the course of journey.
Also, the road leading towards the hospital from the national highway has also been widened. The PHE department is carrying out the civil work and also installing the cabins at the site.
Till the filing of this report, three cabins were installed and another two are expected to be installed on Thursday.
Meanwhile responding to queries from this daily, Health Secretary P Parthiban, while negating claims of the official working at the site, claimed that the department has deployed a team of doctors to supervise the activities at the hospital site.
Regarding the delay in arrival of cabins, the secretary stated that “it has happened due to the nationwide lockdown.”
“The cabins are being prefabricated at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur. There were initial hiccups for labour movement during the lockdown and this has affected the progress of work. We have personally requested the district administration in Jamshedpur to clear the hiccups,” he said.
“Once civil work is completed, the medical equipment will be shifted,” the secretary added.
