Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 26:

The last-ditch attempt by Odisha’s Capital Hospital authorities to retain the stand-in doctor who managed the dialysis unit in the hospital have failed. In the absence of a permanent nephrologist, the fate of the unit at the hospital becomes is now uncertain.

“Dr Ashok Panda, who ran the unit, has applied for voluntary retirement from his job as he was peeved with the government for not recognising him as a nephrologist even though he had completed the course. We attempted to persuade him to continue, but it failed,” said Director of the hospital Biswa Bhusan Patnaik.

Dr Panda, however, cited personal reasons for his decision to quit and refuted charges that he was reluctant to run the dialysis unit.

“I applied for voluntary retirement long back and only reminded the hospital authorities about it on June 23. The reason for my resignation is purely personal. Since I had applied earlier; the formalities of the voluntary retirement procedure are already on. The final call on my retirement will be taken based on existing government rules. It is not correct to say that I was not operating the dialysis unit because the government did not declare me a nephrologist,” said Dr Panda.

As per information provided by Director Patnaik, the hospital never had a dedicated nephrologist. After Dr Panda is relieved, the unit will be locked down and opened only after a new nephrologist is appointed.

It may be noted that the dialysis unit in the hospital was repaired after repeated reports in the media after lying closed for long. Hundreds of patients are diverted to a specific private hospital due to the lack of a functional dialysis unit here, but the Health Department could not care less.

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