The Himachal Pradesh high court on Friday asked the state government what short term steps it had taken to provide facilities for thalassaemia patients in IGMC hospital Shimla.
The court has asked the state government, the health department and the IGMC hospital to file a short affidavit within three weeks and a detailed reply within eight weeks
A division bench of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma also directed the government to state how many blood banks are in Himachal and if these are in a position to meet the blood demand.
The orders were passed on the petition of advocate Y.K.Thakur allegeing that the facilities provided by IGMC for thalassaemia patients are minimum,inadequate and below standard.
Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder impairing the body’s ability to produce haemoglobin and a severe form of this disease is treated by regular blood transfusion.
The petitioner has alleged that there are no separate wards and rooms for blood transfusion and the blood test laboratory is quite far from the emergency and childrens ward.
He said that the process of taking samples,cross matching of blood,verification of cross matching report of blood by doctors and collection of blood from blood banks takes a lot of time.
He also alleged that blood transfusion is conducted by trainee doctors and sometimes by class IV staff, who obviously don’t have the skills.Besides no senior peadriatic consultant is available during the blood trnasfusion.
The petitioner said there should be separate and independent wards for these patients with all infrastructure under one roof.
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
