Until recently, for some residents of Samtse, getting an endoscopy service meant travelling to Thimphu and take the trouble of looking for a space to live in until they get the service at the National Referral Hospital. But not anymore. They can now get the service within Samtse. The district hospital recently received an endoscopy machine through the Gastric Cancer Screening Flagship Program.
Since the arrival of the endoscopy machine, the hospital has been receiving an increasing number of patients seeking the service. It has been barely a month, and the hospital has already provided endoscopy service to about 25 residents.
Without an endoscopy machine in the hospital, health workers had no other options than to refer most of their patients to Thimphu or other districts for the service. The hospital used to refer around 10 to 15 patients every month.
“Just for an endoscopy service, people had to travel to Thimphu. And these days, they have to stay in quarantine to travel to Thimphu. But now, we have the machine here and we can do the diagnostic cases and also do endoscopy as part of the Gastric Cancer Screening Flagship Program,” said Dr Rihan Raj Gurung, a surgeon with the district hospital.
He added an endoscopy is used to diagnose diseases such as, ulcers, gastritis, and cancer of the digestive system or even for those facing difficulty in swallowing.
The residents are delighted by the news.
“Earlier, it was very challenging for us to travel to Thimphu for endoscopy service. Even if we could travel, we don’t have people to live with in Thimphu. And these days, we have to stay in quarantine and there is every chance that a patient might not make it up to Thimphu also,” said Karma Zangmo, a resident of Samtse.
“Before, we had to travel to Thimphu and Phuentshogling for endoscopy service. And for people like us, it used to cost us a lot to travel to other districts. But now that we have received an endoscopy machine, it will benefit all residents of Samtse,” said Norbin Subba, another resident.
For now, the endoscopy service is made available once a week.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Phub Gyem
