Distressed patients cling to hope amid nurses’ strike in Jalandhar

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 11

It has been four days since work at the dialysis unit and the ICU, thalassemia unit, operation theatres, including the gynae ward OT and caesarean surgeries has been lying suspended due to the strike by nurses. On the fourth day of the strike by nurses, health services in Jalandhar remained in disarray with patients in several emergencies being turned away due to the lack of staff to attend to them. While the dengue ward has entirely been emptied, in others, single ward attendants tended to patients.

With both the dengue outbreak and the escalating cost of healthcare, the poorest of the poor have been worst affected. Majority of the patients — especially those in emergency — are being referred elsewhere while the remaining are those who do not have any money to take their seriously kin patients to other hospitals. The remaining staff members have been slugging on despite insurmountable odds.

In most general wards, there are just four to five patients. The few remaining patients at the female surgical ward at the top floor of the Civil Hospital present a picture of poverty and helplessness.

Two men, who tended to their wife, an elderly labour couple tending to their severely injured daughter and a 60- year-old abandoned patient are all that remain in the female surgical ward. Most of these patients remain because they have nowhere to go. Some of them have sold their belongings to tend to kin.

Woman abandoned by kin

Since August, a 60-year-old woman, a resident of Ghazi Gullah, has been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. Admitted with a fracture, the woman lay at the CH in mere rags with just a few bandages in the name of covering and her body exposed to the elements. She was brought with a fracture and is a diabetic. The hospital staff said since then, only once, some relatives (son and daughter-in-law) came in and got her thumb imprint on some papers. Since then, no one has returned to check on her. The woman lay slumbering in an isolated corner of the female surgical ward emanating a stench. The hospital staff said, “She was in a very bad condition. Except once, when some relatives came in to get thumb impression, no one had returned for her. We keep dressing her from time to time. She also has a mental condition so every time we have tried to dress her up, she removes her clothing. She also pushes off the bandages. Since there is no one to take care of her, she has been receiving treatment here.”

Do-gooder staff

At some wards, lone ward attendants tended to patients during the shifts. Many surgeries are also held up due to the strike, as a result of which some severely ailing patients are at the wards. Staff members said for over 20 years, even as more staff members kept on retiring, others haven’t come in their place. No new regular appointments have been made either. With the hospital growing quiet at dusk and most staff away to homes, ortho specialist Dr Mukul Bansal quietly came in to check on his patient who had been operated recently. The young doctor quietly interacted about the health of a patient who had recently been operated upon. The doctor said, “It’s my routine. I have to check on the health of those with recent surgeries.”

Couple tends to severely injured daughter

Gopal (60) and his wife Sheela tearfully tend to their daughter who has had multiple injuries due to a train accident. She has three fractures in her leg and injuries on both her arms. A daily wager, Gopal tends to his daughter and her two sons. His wife Sheela is a domestic help. The couple said after bandaging her leg yesterday, so far no other dressing of her wounds had been done. Gopal said: “We went to Amritsar but were asked to take her elsewhere. She has various fractures and bruises. So far there has been no X-ray or scans. Due to the strike, her tests haven’t been conducted. The bandage was also done with the ones we brought. Now, the doctors ask us to take her to Chandigarh. We are poor. We don’t have that much money.”

Ex-serviceman tends to ailing wife 

• Retired from paramilitary services, Rajeev sold the last remaining cylinder at his home on Thursday. While his wife Sultana has been sick for the past several months, he first took her to a private hospital, to avail benefits of the Ayushman card but claimed, due to no money received from the government, he had to shift her after several days. At the Civil Hospital since then, he cares for his sick wife. Battling escalating healthcare costs amidst extreme poverty, Ravinder still doesn’t blame the staff
• “Nurses have to get their due salary. The remaining staff does best they can in limited resources. The trouble lies with the government. My Ayushman Card money wasn’t even received by the private hospital. I have sold my LED, two cylinders, and other equipment to bear the expenses of my wife’s treatment. I am not covered by ACHS. The cover gets too costly for me. So here I am. I am going through hardships. But I would back the hospital staff. They do what they can,” he said
• The couple and their daughter spent Diwali at the CH. With his one eye swollen due to infection from a bee sting, a masked Ravinder got buckets of water from the hospital bathroom to ease her vomiting bout. Labour Kusheshwar Singh also tends to his wife suffering from TB at the same ward