From a distance, the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) looks like a majestic citadel with domes reaching out to the sky.
In quite contrast, Gandhi Hospital has a comparatively modern look but is as huge. Both the institutions are forever teeming with people. Yet not many people recognise that the Vijayawada-like tragedy, where six infants died due to defunct incubators, keep happenning now and then but go unnoticed amidst the hustle-bustle as they happen in a smaller scale.
All major Government general hospitals in the State are sufferring from numerous ailments just as the patients visiting them.
Despite the claims of the State Government that health and medical care are being given top priority, many Government general hospitals, including major teaching hospitals, are plagued by one problem or the other. They are a perfect example for the Government apathy and indifferent attitude of the leaders towards the general public.
If Gandhi Hospital has a defunct de-fibrillator (used to revive patients at times of cardiac arrest), OGH has just a couple of intubation tubes (used to clear respiratory problems).
Despite enjoying its newly acquired Super Specialty Hospital status, the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam is still lacking several key medical equipment, including MRI scan, even as the Cobalt Treatment Plant at Ruia Hospital is gathering dust due to lack of maintenance. The cardiology wings at both the Vijayawada Government General Hospital and the Ruia Hospital at Tirupati are working with no cardiologist.
The list goes on and on and on.
Interestingly, most of these hospitals are teaching hospitals producing future doctors. God knows what happens when these doctors set out to treat patients after working under such pathetic conditions. The junior doctors are not even supplied disposable gloves to treat accident victims.
Basic facilities like proper drinking water facility and hygeinic conditions in wards apart from sanitation are completely lacking in these medical institutions. Defunct electric equipment like fans, bulbs and lifts are a common sight, while the dangerous electric wiring in hospitals housed in old buildings pose a constant threat to patients.
Shortage of basic drugs, including emergency drugs like Dopamine and Dobutamine and simple tablets for headache, are a common feature.
For instance, the Ruia Hospital in Tirupati has an annual budget of Rs 1.5 crore for medicines but the Government has been releasing only Rs 1 crore forcing the hospital authorities to meet the remaining expenses from the hospital funds.
The insanitary conditions in these hospitals is compounded by broken and worn out sanitation condition and shortage of maintenance staff. A foul smell assails the noses of the visitor to a Government hospital.
Despite having an annual budget of Rs 13.5 crore for OGH and Rs 17.8 crore for Gandhi Hospital sanitation in both the hospitals is poor due to absence of Class IV employees. In the case of KGH the Government has been releasing only one-third of its annual building maintenance of Rs 1.5 crore.
None of the Government hospitals has more than 50 per cent of the required staff, including nurses and Class IV employees, resulting in the sorry state of affairs at these hospitals.
It is learnt that the Government as part of its policy did not recruit a single nurses or Class IV employee in the past 10 years.
The hospital authorities are finding it difficult to recruit staff on contract basis as the pay is not attractive.
Specialists and medical officers are absent in several departments, even as doctors with basic qualifications are donning too many hats at the same time. Technicians too are few in number.
The Vijayawada Government General Hospital is plagued by a unique problem where the staff and infrastructrue are being shared by both the old Government Hospital and the new government hospital. The Trauma Care Centre at the Ruia Hospital, sanctioned by the Government, remains a distant dream.
At Gandhi Hospital, patients have to use plastic covers and ropes to hook the saline bottle to the nearby window as the I V-stands cannot be adjusted to the required height. Carrying patients in rusty stretchers at the OGH could be a dangerous venture as an accident victim who reportedly fell after the stretcher broke into two.
PS Dileep
with inputs from VKL Gayatri in Visakhapatnam, PV Krishna Rao in Vijayawada and G Sridhar in Tirupati.