Pensioners are waiting..

Railways pensioners, staff await ‘upgraded’ medical facilities
Charanjit Singh Teja
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 19
The pensioners and employees of the Northern Railways have been facing a lot of inconvenience due to the absence of medical specialists at the Sub-Divisional Hospital within the Railway Station Complex of the city.

Originally a health unit, the facility was upgraded in 2011, following which a new building and operation theaters were constructed. The Railway Board, however, did not sanction the posts of medical specialist. The pensioners and employees, therefore, are left with no option but to go to private hospitals.
As the Railway Board still considers the hospital a health unit, limited funds are allocated to it. There are a total of six sanctioned posts of doctor for the hospital, but three are lying vacant.
Sher Singh, chairman of the Northern Railways Pensioners' Welfare Association, said, "There are more than 36,000 persons, including 4,000 pensioners, employees and their dependents, who have been suffering due to the lack of facilities at the hospital. We had struggled a lot to get the health unit upgraded, but due to the negligence of senior officials, the status of the hospital is still the same."
Dr Chetna Kapoor, Senior Divisional Medical Officer and in-charge of the hospital, said, "The Railway Board did not sanction the Sub-Divisional Hospital; so, it is still a health unit. We have a good operation theatre, but it can't become functional till the Railway Board sanctions more staff. We have all the medical facilities which are required in a health unit."