Make RIMS shining

L Dijen Singh *

45th Foundation Day Celebration of RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Science) on 14th September 2016 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

The Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) was in the news lately for reasons – good and bad, – both. Nonetheless RIMS is known as the premier medical institute of the North eastern region except for the State of Assam. And we all are proud of this.

However, one may make one or two observation regarding the ambience of this institute that any visitor who comes to this institute would surely feel.

A premier institute not only for Manipur but for the seven North eastern States that had observed its 46th foundation day is naturally expected to be at least clean and healthy. Because cleanliness is the basic necessity of a medical institute.

But unfortunately, we find the road right from the RIMS gate leading to the emergency/casualty department and the OPD Department not well-maintained and undoubtedly dirty and dusty.

The emergency ward or the casualty also do not show a good picture either. Also one can see the emergency/casualty ward heavily engaged because of the sheer number of emergency cases that have been brought to it.

This could have been the case of everyday affair. But this fact cannot justify the dirty road and the dusty floor of the emergency department.

The fact that patients have to lie on the floor of the corridors of the emergency department when beds are not available makes RIMS hospital all the more miserable and extremely unhealthy.

This is a fact and I too, had to suffer the ordeal recently when I had to take my daughter to the emergency/casualty one evening. That evening since there was no bed available we had to manage with a mat (phak) on the dusty floor of the corridor.

We stayed there for a few hours till the doctor discharged my daughter late in the evening or rather in the night. And thanks to the heavy dust in the corridor, my wife caught a bad cough that took her 2-3 days to recover. I am quite sure many would have suffered too, though nobody speaks up.

Now, this terrible uncleanliness found in this premier institute would have been the experience of any visitor. Therefore, for the welfare of the patients and in the interests of the general public, it is suggested that the authority of RIMS, particularly the Director who is the administrator, must take note of this serious deficiency of administration.

It may be suggested that this administrative deficiency can be taken care of by putting into service a few cleaning staff in the aforesaid area 24×7 that is, round the clock from the RIMS gate right upto the emergency/casualty dept and also in the corridors. And I believe in the RIMS complex other such dirty places that needs immediate attention could be found.

Now for this cleaning job, RIMS may need 50-60 cleaning staff. But this should not be a problem, because RIMS is funded by the Centre that has the fastest growing economy in the world with the GDP running in trillions.

And most importantly the requirement for additional staff is genuine. Therefore, the only thing that is required is, the Director must be able to make a good proposal to the concerned Ministry and indeed he must know how to get things done.

Let this prestigious premier medical institute shine by maintaining it round the clock and only then we will realize what a premier medical institute looks like.

This would surely boost confidence of the public and encourage the patients to prefer RIMS rather than going out of the State for treatment forcing them to spend huge sums of money.