CHENNAI: “Slowly, slowly, please,” pleaded an attender as a sick patient squirmed in pain when the worker pushed through the metal stretcher with force on a ragged concrete road on Kilpauk Medical College Hospital campus.
The cries of patients and attenders are a common sight at the hospital as tattered roads on the premises exacerbate the sufferings of patients wheeled out from one place to another for scan, X-ray or tests. As the sun barrels down on the patients carried on wheelchairs and stretcher trolleys on bumpy roads, helpless attendees cover their faces with a piece of cloth to protect them from heat.
“The workers are always in a hurry. They just want to finish their job and leave. They are least bothered about the pain and suffering that patients endure. There are only a few exceptions. Roads on the hospital campus are poor,” said an attender whose relative was undergoing treatment at the emergency care unit.
“We come here as we cannot afford treatment at private hospitals. We have no choice but to tolerate these painful moments. What else we can do?,” asked one of the relatives of a patient admitted for kidney treatment at the hospital.
Dr R Shantimalar, dean of the hospital, said the issue has already been brought to the notice of the public works department and new roads will come up soon. Karthikeyan, PWD assistant engineer, said the work got delayed because of rain. Since the rain has stopped now, road work will be started soon, he said. We will first start laying tar road after milling the concrete road from the hospital’s main entrance to the outpatient department, he said.