Healthcare crisis in Lumding: Hospitals struggle, patients referred out

HOJAI, March 30: Lumding, a key railway town in Assam, is facing a severe and alarming healthcare crisis that continues to endanger the lives of its residents. As of today, the town’s entire medical system rests on just two institutions – the Lumding Divisional Railway Hospital and the Dr Shayma Prasad Mukherjee Sub-District Civil Hospital – both of which are struggling to function as major treatment centres due to a lack of infrastructure, specialists, and critical care facilities.

Instead of providing treatment, these hospitals have effectively turned into referral centres. From minor injuries to life-threatening emergencies, patients are routinely referred from these institutions to hospitals in Hojai, Diphu, and Guwahati. This delay in accessing proper treatment has resulted in numerous preventable deaths, particularly among accident victims, cardiac patients, and critically ill children.

Emergency care in Lumding is nearly non-existent. Road accident victims are given only basic first aid before being referred out, losing precious time during the critical golden hour. Cardiac patients, who require immediate specialised intervention, are provided temporary medication and sent to distant hospitals without access to cardiologists or cardiac units. Many do not survive the long journey.

The situation is equally grim for children and newborns. With no paediatrician or neonatal intensive care unit available, infants suffering from infections, breathing difficulties, or premature birth complications are referred to Guwahati or other towns. Several families have reported losing their children during transit.

Doctors within the hospitals, speaking anonymously, admitted that the lack of essential services forces them to refer patients even in cases that could otherwise be treated locally. “We do not have ICU facilities, ventilators, or specialists. We are left with no choice but to refer patients, even when we know the risks involved,” one doctor said.

However, beyond the medical crisis lies a deeply distressing financial burden that patients and their families must endure during these referral cases – especially when they are forced to seek better treatment in Guwahati.

For most families in Lumding, particularly those from low-income and middle-class backgrounds, a referral to Guwahati is not just a medical emergency – it becomes a financial nightmare. The cost of hiring a private ambulance or arranging immediate transportation can range from several thousand rupees to much higher amounts, depending on urgency and distance. Government ambulance services are often limited or unavailable in critical situations, forcing families to rely on expensive private options.

Upon reaching Guwahati, the financial pressure intensifies. Patients are often admitted to private hospitals due to overcrowding in government facilities, leading to high costs for admission, diagnostic tests, ICU care, medicines, and surgeries. In addition, families must bear expenses for accommodation, food, and daily living while staying in the city.

Many families are forced to borrow money, sell valuables, or take high-interest loans just to continue treatment. In several tragic cases, families have exhausted their financial resources even before the patient could receive full medical care.

A local resident recounted his painful experience: “When my brother met with an accident, the hospital here told us to take him to Guwahati immediately. We arranged a vehicle by borrowing money. By the time we reached, he was no more. Now we are left with debt and grief.”

This dual burden – medical and financial – has pushed many families in Lumding into long-term economic hardship. The absence of accessible healthcare in the town is not only costing lives but also destroying the financial stability of households.

Over the past six months, local sources indicate that dozens of patients have died either during transit or shortly after referral due to delayed treatment. The absence of specialists such as cardiologists, paediatricians, surgeons, and trauma experts has made it impossible for the hospitals to handle even moderately critical cases.

The infrastructure gap remains glaring. There are no functional ICUs, trauma centres, cardiac units, or advanced diagnostic facilities. Ambulances are often unequipped for critical care transport, and there is no system in place to ensure safe and timely referrals.

The situation in Lumding is no longer just a healthcare issue – it is a humanitarian crisis. Patients are not only battling illness but also the crushing financial burden of seeking treatment far from home.

ANN Service