Poor infra, staff shortage plague Hisar civil hospital

Deepender Deswal

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Tribune News Service

Hisar, November 25

The civil hospital in the town is unable to deliver to the satisfaction of a large number of patients of this region due to lack of infrastructure, shortage of staff and inadequate facilities. Despite having an outdoor patient department (OPD) that is visited by 1,500 daily, 16 posts of medical officers have been lying vacant from the sanctioned strength of 55 doctors.

Sources said the 200-bed hospital has been reduced to a referral hospital with matters related to emergency care. The authorities prefer to refer critical patients and accident victims to the Postgraduate Institutes of Medical Sciences in Agroha and Rohtak as the hospital lacks ventilator facilities.

The ultrasound facility has not been available for four months, forcing patients, mostly pregnant women, to go to private centres. A number of posts of specialists like radiologist, burn specialist, cancer specialist, neurosurgeon, gastroenterologist have been lying vacant.

A local activist, Paramjeet, who sat on dharna recently demanding facilities in the gynaecology ward, said there was always a heavy rush in the admission ward and two women patients were allocated one bed, exposing them to infections.

Ramchander, an aged person of Mingnikhera village who has been suffering from a respiratory problem, said: “I am consulting private doctors besides the civil hospital. In the civil hospital, medicines are also not available.” However, another patient Balwant Singh from Hisar maintained that the situation had improved a bit as the waiting time had been reduced for medical tests and examinations.

Officials at the civil hospital said the pressure had grown on the hospital with the increasing number of outpatients and admissions. “But the authorities cannot expand the facilities due to constraints of space. The hospital is near the protected fort constructed by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in 1354. Construction is banned within the 100-m radius of the fort under the ASI rules.

Civil Surgeon Dr Sanjay Dahiya admitted they were short on space. “We have submitted a proposal to the state government for shifting the hospital on the outskirts of the town on the Sirsa road and have identified about 70 acres. We are unable to increase the facilities due to a ban on construction here,” he said.

Dr Dahiya said realising the increasing requirement, he had added 15 beds in the gynaecology ward.