On the auspicious occasion of Shravan Purnima and Raksha bandhan, State Chief Minister Pema Khandu laid the foundation stone of the 200-bedded Multi-Specialty Hospital at the Rama Krashna Mission Hospital here on Sunday, August 22 last. He also dedicated the newly installed Siemens Magnetom 1.5 Tesla MRI machine of the hospital to the people of the state. Addressing the monks, doctors, nurses and employees of the hospital, Khandu applauded the role of R K Mission Hospital in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic. He said the doctors, nurses, para medics and all staff of the hospital risked themselves but did not stop serving the sick and needy through thick and thin. “People of the state, particularly residents of Itanagar remains indebted to you all,” he said. Acknowledging the contributions of the R K Mission in both health and education sectors, the Chief Minister said it was ‘payback’ time for the state government. “RKM has been giving to us since the early days of our existence. We decided it was time to give it back even if small. Therefore, we decided that the proposed 200 bedded multispecialty hospital should be established as part of the R K Mission Hospital,” he said. Khandu requested the management to set a target of two years for completion of the project so that it can start serving the people at the earliest. He suggested that the upcoming hospital building be constructed keeping in mind the natural ambience and go for a ‘green’ building. Talking about the pandemic, Khandu said that it came as an eye opener to the government. “I being the Chief Minister even wasn’t aware of the status of our health facilities, especially at the ground level. Due to the pandemic we had repeated serious reviews, consultations and meetings at all levels, which subsequently revealed the poor condition of our health infrastructure. It was this pandemic that enabled us to ‘right’ the ‘wrong’ and revamp the health sector in last one and half years that we couldn’t do in decades,” he informed. Having learnt the lesson the hard way, Khandu said that the state government is seriously improving the health sector through creation of infrastructure, manpower and facilities besides procuring modern and latest health equipment. “We are completely overhauling infrastructure and facilities of all the district hospitals. We have recruited and will continue recruiting sufficient doctors including specialists, nurses of all categories, paramedics and other sanitary and assisting staff as required,” he informed. Khandu also informed that the government has decided to select and develop one hospital each in every assembly constituency of the state with all facilities. Remembering his late father and former chief minister, Dorjee Khandu’s close association with the hospital (the hospital has a ward after the name of the late chief minister), Khandu assured the state government’s support to it for years to come. As a gesture of appreciation and gratitude, he donated Rs 20 lakhs to the hospital from his personal sources