While the Uttarakhand government claims that 150 doctors from Sir Ganga Ram hospital and Fortis hospital in New Delhi have been deployed to affected areas, the hospital authorities claim ignorance.
The chief minister of the state, Vijay Bahuguna, had said that he had put together a group of 150 doctors and 17 teams from Ganga Ram hospital and Fortis hospital in New Delhi, and that these teams are already providing medical assistance to the rescued at various camps in Joshimath, Gauchar, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Guptkashi in Uttarakhand.
However, S P Bayotra, vice president of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, says that while they have proposed supplying medicines and first aid kits to the affected areas, the state government has said that they are not in a position to use the medicines for the next couple of days. Fortis hospital claims it has sent 18 doctors for relief work, but they are still stationed at Dehradun.
Principal health secretary of the Union health ministry, Anshu Prakash, says that when the state government was asked whether they need medical assistance, it refused. Till now, 1,100 body bags have been sent to Uttarakhand. Three teams for the control of infectious diseases are to be sent to the region.
Sources say that Bahuguna has admitted that his administration is still not in a position to assess how many doctors or how much medicines are required.