No money to buy films: X-ray machine gathers dust at Rishikul Ayurvedic College

ARUN KASHYAP | Haridwar

Rishikul Ayurvedic College Hospital, established in Haridwar since 1919, seems to be going through its worst phase ever. Fund crunch keeps haunting the facility for years. Now add to it the non-functioning of the X-ray machine for the past one and half years and the predicament of the patients who visit it in good numbers, becomes understandable.  

They blame it on the hospital administration’s apathy and a lack of funds, saying that they are being forced to throng the private facilities only to be fleeced.  Notably, most of the patients who come here for affordable treatment are from poor and middle class backgrounds from the rural areas.

Asked about the reason behind this protracted non-functioning of the X-ray machine, a doctor of the facility, Ajay Kumar Gupta said that it was due to the unavailability of X-ray film. The machine, worth approximately Rs 10 lakh, had been received from an NGO in April 2024. Since then, it has been standing idle in the absence of funds required for purchasing X-ray film.

The principal and superintendent of the Ayurvedic College, Dr Dinesh Chandra Singh explained it by saying that they have informed the higher authorities regarding the issue. “The machine is lying unused thanks to budget crunch.  It will be commissioned once the budget is available,” he added.