Critical patients left to fend for themselves at Civil Hospital

Sumeer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 15

In the absence of attendants, patients visiting the emergency unit in the Civil Hospital are left to fend for themselves. After alighting from the ambulance, patients are carried by family members/relatives accompanying them to get them admitted to the immediate medical care section of the unit.

During a recent visit by The Tribune team to the emergency unit of the government hospital, it was observed that a majority of patients were not attended by any staff member of the hospital.

The attendants along with patients rued that leave aside providing a stretcher to carry patients who require immediate medical care but no one from the emergency unit to assist patients.

Patients visiting the hospital for the first time were seen enquiring as to where they should take the patient for admission from staff members moving in the alley of emergency unit. Unaware about exact location of the section where immediate care is administered to critical patients, there were few other patients who were taken to different room by their family members only to delay their treatment during initial crucial moments.

Sukhan Devi from village Bir Talab village who is a diabetes patient in a critical condition alighted (supported by family members) from ambulance. She was then carried by her son and a relative to the emergency unit.

Sources in the emergency unit said that even patients gasping for life after road accident are lifted by the family members/relatives sometimes. Dozens of patients visit the emergency unit of the hospital and establishing a help desk near the entrance of the emergency unit can definitely spare them inconvenience. Staff shortage has often been cited as reason for not improving the state of services at the emergency unit but it is something that must find a place in the health department’s priority list.

Moreover, there were only two stretchers placed at the entrance and with no attendant readily available even those are not even utilized to full capacity. A couple of stretchers are placed at the emergency unit are in deplorable condition and had not been repaired for months.

When contacted, matron of emergency unit said, “There is only one class-IV employee at the emergency who remains occupied with the work at the unit handling patients. How can he be available at two different places at one time? We have written to the authorities on numerous occasions to provide us more class-IV employees but nothing has been done. It’s been decades since fresh appointments were made of class-IV employees at the unit.”

Dr Satish Goyal, senior medical officer, Civil Hospital, said, “Considering the patient inflow at the emergency unit, we need atleast four attendants for one shift whereas we have only one attendant for one shift now. Making fresh appointments is the only solution to the matter. We have been stating the requirement of staff with state health department in our monthly report but nothing concrete has been done in the matter till now.”