A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General criticized the medical system in the Indian Railways and said that it is ill-equipped to carry out medical relief services in the event of any disaster or accident.
The report was complied after auditing important installations of the railways associated with medical care. Titled "Performance Appraisal of Medical and Health Services in Railways", the report said that most railways hospitals were ill-equipped due to non-availability of essential medical equipments. Shortage of staff and other facilities also compounded the problem.
Advertisement
"The railways should devise clear parameters/performance indicators for themselves to enable evaluation of the quality of health services provided by them", it said. Also medicines were not tested regularly and kept up to date, the report said.
It concluded by saying that "standards of sanitation, supply of safe drinking water and prevention of food adulteration needed to be strictly enforced by the railways in view of the impact on the general public."
Advertisement
Advertisement
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: