SMCH is driving patients to private diagnostic centres by saying CT machine out of order: Manas Sinha’s family

To save a pedestrian child, artist Manas Sinha met with an accident. He was rushed to Silchar Medical College and Hospital which according to his mother did not provide the minimum treatment as there was no neurology department. He was referred to Guwahati Medical College and died on the way.

The incident again paints a grim picture of the medical system in the Barak Valley. Manas Sinha is no more, the medical college does not have specialists, neurosurgery, cath lab and these are facts. However, the family of Manas Sinha has alleged that the SMCH actually bats for the private hospitals. Intentionally, to drive patients in private hospitals and nursing homes, the SMCH keeps saying the machines are defunct, alleged the family members of Manas Sinha.

Manas Sinha’s family members complained that he was taken to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in critical condition where essential tests like CT scan could not be conducted, “Because that old excuse- CT scan machine is out of order. A technical device can have a technical failure, but when that is a key diagnostic device, it must be fixed at war-footing. In SMCH, these machines are kept faulty for weeks and at times even months,” said a member of Manas Sinha’s family.

There are also allegations that many of those in charge of running these, advise the patient’s family to get examined at a private center. Family members often agree and most private diagnostic centers make a profit.

The artist, Manash Sinha was the only earning member of the family. His death left the whole family helpless. Especially his old mother who is yet to accept the shock. When people talk to her she keeps crying. Her voice trembles and her tone is a tone of a lady who has lost it all. “Give my son back and take my life in return,” she said while speaking with Barak Bulletin.

She is not the only mother. Many young individuals of Barak Valley die in this manner and their mothers cry but those cries never make any difference. Maybe that mother’s heartbreaking cry will not reach the ears of the government medical institutions neglecting its responsibilities. However, there was a possibility that Sinha’s life would have been saved if he had been treated in time.

 

 

He had severe abdominal pain and a head injury. Despite first aid, he was groaning in pain. The wife and other family members took the ambulance journey at around 6 pm. and at 10:30 pm he breathed his last. The family members also said that Manas Sinha was a very simple and good-minded person starting from his student life. Manas Sinha, the first batch student of the Department of Fine Arts, Assam University was once a well-known designer in Bollywood.

“He was so simple that many people in Mumbai used him and did not pay him for his work. He did not protest and returned home in silence,” said his mother.  She added, “To him, his art was more valuable than money. It was his pleasure to teach children with disabilities, to work for free, and to work with them. After losing his father, his mother and wife were his worlds. As destiny would have it, Manas met with an accident while trying to save a small child. On the way back from school, a child was inadvertently getting caught in the wheel of a car, Manash got into an accident while trying to save the child.”

His last rites were performed near his house in Sonapur village in the Hailakandi Lalabazar area. His father died two years ago and this time he has left untimely, leaving his elderly mother and wife completely clueless. Manas Sinha was the joint secretary of a capable social organization. He used to teach making idols. He put two sides together in the construction of the statue of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Sonai.

Several social organizations in Silchar have expressed strong dissatisfaction over Sinha’s death. A meeting was held on Saturday by the Thousand Sayantans organization. Socially conscious common people including members of March for Science, Rupam Cultural Organizations, and District Bar Organization took part in it. They have decided to stage a protest under Khudiram Basu’s statue on Club Road this evening.

From now on, they have made a request to the people of the city to hand a banner in every socio-cultural activities, sports, Eid, etc., which will read, “Bring 24 hours Angioplasty and Neurological treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital. Silchar Medical College and Hospital should be upgraded to AIIMS level.” Maybe when everyone will say the same thing over and over again, the message will reach the Government and the people’s representatives.

Till then, many more Sayantan Chakraborty, Manas Sinhas are prone to succumbing on their way to Shillong or Guwahati.