CHENNAI: Following the deaths of ICU patients at Government Rajaji Hospital, the Doctor’s Association for Social Equality will be staging a protest near Chepauk on May 15. Association members have demanded that the government hand over aid of Rs1 crore to each of the affected families.
The members said a majority of government hospitals across the state lacked basic facilities such as electricity, water supply and were also severely inadequate in terms of technology, trained employees, medicines, and equipment. “The case of Tamil Nadu’s recent policy on blood banks is a classic example of this. Though the policy was devised in March 2018, it has not been implemented. So, the quality of blood collected in banks is questionable in nature. This is why HIV is easily transmitted through transfusions,” said Dr GR Ravindranath, general secretary of the association.
He said five patients lost their lives due to a power failure in Madurai because ventilators were not of top technology. “A normal ventilator used by most government hospitals will last only for half an hour after power failure. A modern one upto nine hours. A month ago, in Rajiv Gandhi hospital, dialysis units couldn’t be operated because of power cut.”