The radical changes happening at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) have left many people confused.

The confusion arises from the lack of true understanding of the shift that is being initiated.

People suffering from Tuberculosis (TB) and flu-like symptoms will no longer be checked and treated at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH). 

This is because the ministry of health, in collaboration with the JDWNRH, will start the flu clinic at the RBP ground, below the hospital. People coming for health services with flu-like symptoms will be diverted to the flu clinic.

Individuals with cough, fever and other flu-like symptoms are asked to visit the flu clinic, not the outpatient department of the hospital.

For the people, the awful lot of noise is about inconvenience. The same perhaps is for the hospital and the health ministry. Is it because of shooting HIV/AIDS figures in the country? Or is it because of the rising Covid-19 positive cases in neighbouring India?

When the information flow is disturbed, for whatever reasons, such confusions are to be expected. More is yet to come, going by how every government agency is zipped up with heavy warnings from all quarters.

The officiating director for the department of public health, Rixin Jamtsho said that the ministry is encouraging all the major hospitals in the country to do the same.

Why, though, is still not being answered.

Covid-19 threats are still around. In fact, in some countries, the cases are rising. New variants of the virus are making preparedness difficult for most health systems around the world.

In Bhutan, the general feeling is the same. Covid-19 is gone many seem to think. However, according to health reports, positive cases are on the rise.

As winter approaches, we may be in for a much more difficult position to deal with the virus that seems to proliferate in such right conditions.

What the health sector has done so far deserves praise, but we need to do more. Information flow would help. We are just beginning to walk out of the shadow of the virus and there are a lot of things that we need to fix.

The merger or possible merger of traditional medicine services with JDWNRH is a hot topic today. Why? Because of lack of information from the ministry and explanation.