12 OTs lying in disuse add to patients’ pain at PGI

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 19

The waiting list for surgery in the already overcrowded operation theatres (OTs) at the PGI is stretching. The reason: As many as 12 OTs are lying in disuse due to alleged apathetic attitude of the authorities.

Of the 57 OTs in the premier hospital, 12 are not being optimised. Official sources blamed it on shortage of manpower and non-working equipment in some of the OTs. The main lights of two OTs are not working.

Though the PGI needs 250 OT technicians, it only has 135 at present. The waiting list at the PGI is already long and making matters worse, the hospital has failed to fully utilise the existing facilities. Elective surgeries, which used to have a waiting period of one to two months around 10 years ago, now have a waiting period of six months to one year in the Urology Department. OTs lying in disuse are adding to the woes of the patients.

“It isn’t that the OTs are out of order. They remain underutilised due to mismanagement. If efforts are made, all OTs can be run and the waiting list of patients can be reduced, which will be a huge relief to thousands of patients waiting to be treated,” said an insider on condition of anonymity.

Sources said of the six OTs in the Day Care Centre, only one was working. An OT each in the Advanced Paediatrics Centre and the kidney transplant section were lying unused. Even in the emergency, two OTs are not working. Besides, one or two are lying out of order.

“When the government has provided facilities, why is the PGI not using these. It is a sheer wastage of the available resources,” quipped an official.

At present, OTs are run from 8 am to 4 pm. There is a demand for running these from 8 am to 8 pm to cater to larger number of patients. However, the authorities have failed to do so.