NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) - run Swami Dayanand Hospital situated in Dilshad Garden has been facing cash crunch and lack of efficiency from the administration. The hospital building is dilapidated and was declared ‘condemned’ four years back.
The condition worsened as many times ceilings fell on patients, posing a great threat to their safety.
A similar incident happened last year in January when a child got injured after a large chunk of a ceiling fell in one of the hospital wards, which further led to a stampede causing panic among the patients.
Doctors complained that the hospital administration and MCD officials repaired the damaged portions of the building in a makeshift manner.
According to the doctors, the operation theatre has also been operating in the same manner.
The newspaper visited the hospital last week and saw that due to heavy rains, the Out Patient Department of the hospital was flooded with rainwater, making movement difficult for the doctors, patients and other staffs.
According to a doctor, the rainwater even seeped inside a room where biomedical waste was kept and got mixed with the water in OPD, causing threat to everyone’s life. “Built in 1950s, most of the departments under the building are running in a makeshift manner. The operation theatre has only two tables as one of the ceilings collapsed last year. The walls have collapsed in almost all the rooms of the hospital, be it ICU, Orthopaedic, Casualty, among others,” said a doctor on the condition of anonymity. The doctor added that the sprinkler system which was installed six months back has also stopped functioning.
Adding to the woes, the lifts have also stopped operating and no wheelchairs are available for patients to travel to different floors. Dr Arun Yadav, Director Hospital Administration at MCD said that he will revert back on the issue after getting a response from the Medical Superintendent of the hospital. Dr Mukesh Kumar, Medical Superintendent at the hospital did not respond to the concerns raised saying that he has taken charge only a few weeks back and will take some time to respond.
Meanwhile, the doctors at the hospital have not yet received the pending salaries of last seven months. They have raised the issue several times but got no positive response. The doctors even protested for the same and after getting a month’s salary, they were again made devoid of the monthly remuneration.