Crumbling healthcare needs quick fix

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 4

Dumps of biomedical waste in various corners is what meets the eye as one enters the once prestigious Government Rajindra Hospital here. The wards and special rooms present a dark picture with torn mattresses, dirty sheets and rusted side tables. The toilets stink, with taps leaking and doors broken.

Despite crores having been spent to nurse the hospital to health, it continues to die a slow death. Darshan Singh (47), a JE with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, is on the wheelchair. He asks social worker SD Verma, who runs an enquiry counter, to show him the way to the office of the seniormost officer for lodging a complaint. 

Extremely unwell, he says he has been moving from one department to another but to no avail. Exasperated, his son says he will never get his father to the hospital again. Despite government claims, patients here purchase almost all medicines from chemist shops outside the hospital. But there is no option for the poor who stand in queues that keep getting long and the wait even longer.

Staff crunch

Shortage of senior residents and super specialists has crippled the hospital functioning. At times there are not enough nurses in wards and many of them have to work double shifts. Almost 50 per cent posts sanctioned for doctors, professors, assistant professors and lecturers are vacant. Of the 313 sanctioned posts for doctors, only 158 are filled and of the 233 posts for senior residents, 35 are yet to be filled. As regards the nursing staff, 201 of the 307 posts are vacant. Of the 443 posts for contractual nurses, 51 are vacant. Also, of the 611 Class IV posts, 129 are yet to be filled.

Poor upkeep 

Though the Punjab Government is spending crores on new units and on buying equipment, not much attention is being paid to the upkeep of the existing infrastructure, which is crumbling. The hospital wards have new floor tiles, but the hospital is bereft of intensive care facilities. There is no neonatal ventilator or pulse oximeter. The government is busy raising new blocks but no heed is being paid to manpower. While the OPD is run by assistant professors, most of the emergency cases are referred to the PGI or another hospital since there are no specialists. 

Official stand

The Secretary, Medical Education and the Research Department, Hussan Lal, says the process to fill the vacant posts is underway and departmental promotion committes are meeting regularly. “Apart from medical posts, we have obtained the Cabinet approval to fill 800-odd posts for the subordinate staff. Besides, the department is studying the cases of the contractual staff,” he says.

Among the upcoming projects are a Rs 150-crore super speciality ward, an eight-storeyed child care centre and a mortuary. But in the absence of staff, will all this help?