Shillong: Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla on Tuesday informed that an inquiry by the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO), East Khasi Hills, found no negligence on the part of Mawiong Community Health Centre (CHC) in the emergency treatment provided to late Shillong MP Ricky AJ Syngkon on the evening of February 19.
Presenting the findings, the minister said an emergency call was placed to the 108 ambulance service at 6:53 pm and the ambulance was dispatched to Mawiong. However, Dr Syngkon was brought to the CHC by friends in a private vehicle at around 7:15 pm. On arrival, nurses found him in a critical state and recommended that he be shifted to a better-equipped hospital for further treatment.
At about 7:20 pm, he was shifted by an ambulance equipped with oxygen from the CHC and was taken to Dr H Gordon Roberts Hospital, where he reached the emergency unit at around 7:40 pm.
Shylla said the inquiry report concluded that CHC staff carried out all necessary procedures and there was no refusal or denial of treatment.
Addressing concerns over the absence of a doctor at the CHC when Dr Syngkon was brought in, the minister said four doctors were originally posted at Mawiong CHC. However, two are currently pursuing postgraduate (PG) studies and one has been transferred to Khliehriat on health grounds, leaving only one doctor in charge of the facility.
The doctor attends to outpatients from 9 am to 4 pm and remains ‘on call’ for emergencies, but was not physically present at the CHC at the time Dr Syngkon was brought in, he added.
