Undoubtedly, the North Bengal Dental College and Hospital (NBDCH) at Sushrutnagar in Siliguri has been doing its bit to serve patients ever since its inception, but doctors there are facing some problems when it comes to providing good quality services.

One such problem doctors are facing is the poor quality of the X-Ray machines and the “unclear picture/plate” that is generated there. Technicians at the X-Ray department and doctors at the NBDCH are unhappy with the “unclear picture” in almost all X-Ray plates, it is learnt.

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While one technician very recently expressed unhappiness at the poor quality of the X-Ray report, when contacted, Acting Principal of the NBDCH, Dr Sanjoy Dutta, admitted to the X-Ray problems.

“Technicians face acute problems every morning as they start working with the XRay machine,” a source at the NBDCH said. “Not only technicians, but it is also the doctors who face problems during examination and extraction of any damaged tooth of a patient, given the poor quality of X-Ray report,” the source added.

One doctor there wore a puzzled look there very recently, after failing to understand the shape and condition of a tooth of an elderly patient through an X-Ray plate prepared by the NBDCH. “Is this from our hospital? It is totally unclear and difficult to begin work on your tooth. Why did you not care to have the X-Ray done outside?” a doctor asked the patient.

Another senior doctor too faced problems uprooting the remaining part of a tooth in the upper back region after it broke during extraction. The doctor too raised questions on the quality of the XRay film (which was also from the hospital) that failed to “guide” them during the tooth extraction process.

Having failed to uproot the remaining part, the doctor finally requested the patient’s relative to managing another good quality X-Ray from a private institution near the NBDCH.

“The operation was finally done successfully based on the second good quality XRay report that was taken outside,” the patient party said. On the other hand, some medicines, including antibiotics like amoxicillin, are also allegedly not available at the NBDCH and patients are being asked to buy them from outside.

“I have come to know of the poor quality X-Ray. It is due to problems in the film. At present, there is no plan to replace the machine. In fact, we don’t have the funds to do that. For the medicines, we have issued an order to supply amoxicillin. It will be available shortly. We received only Rs 1 lakh this financial year. There is no fund for the other required equipment. We have informed the higher authorities of the matter,” Dr Sanjoy Dutta told The Statesman.