HYDERABAD: Patients visiting the Psychiatry department's out-ptient wing at Gandhi Hospital are put to discomfort as two or three patients are made to sit a few feet away from each other in one room and are counselled simultaneously. The number of out-patient (OP) rooms allotted to the department have been reduced from five to three while the number of doctors offering the service remains the same.
Earlier, only one patient was counselled in one room.Now, three tables are cramped in one room and counselling is given simultaneously to all of them. Worse, if there is an overflow of patients, doctors counsel or provide consultation to patients by sitting in chairs placed in the corridors.
Hospital authorities said that as the construction of diagnostic centre has been taken up on the ground floor, two of the five Psychiatry OP rooms have been allotted to the Neurology and Gastroenterology departments.
Thus, the Psychiatry department ran out of space.One associate professor, one assistant professor and three senior resident doctors provide Psychiatry services. One room is allotted for associate professor, another for assistant professor and the third for senior resident doctors. On occasions, five postgraduate students too handle the patients. At times, OP services are provided in faculty rooms.
When Express checked the situation, a doctor, sandwiched between two patients, was seated in chairs placed right outside the Psychiatry OP Demonstration room. When the doctor was providing consultation to one patient, another patient intently listened to the proceedings-which clearly indicates that patients' detail does not remain confidential. The corridor, for most of the time, was packed with patients and attendants of Psychiatry and other departments.
In the Psychiatry OP Section, patients who survived a suicide attempt, those suffering from schizophrenia, stress, sleeping disorders and others are counselled. It is open from 9 am to noon except on Sundays, and is visited by around 70 people every day. The department also provides OP services at district hospitals in Sangareddy, Karimnagar, Jagtial, Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Medak. It is learnt that letters were sent a few months ago to authorities of other district hospitals to offer Psychiatry OP services.
A patient in the city who visited the Psychiatry OP to consult for sleeping disorder said, "It becomes easy to talk freely if only one patient and doctor are in a room. Else, people hold back". Patients come from other districts too. Two attendants of a patient, who underwent kidney transplantation, said that they had come from Nizamabad.
According to the Code of Ethics approved by Indian Psychiatric Society in 1989, psychiatrists are supposed to safeguard information about a patient that they obtain during course of clinical work in order to protect patient from social stigma, discrimination, etc. "A person in need of psychiatric services will feel secure to talk to a doctor if she or he is the only one in the room with the doctor. If there are some more patients in the same room waiting to be counselled at the same time they might not speak out their concerns," sources said.
Dr M Umashankar, the superintendent of Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Erragadda, who is also head of the Gandhi Hospital's Psychiatry department, said that 15 to 20-minutes is allotted to each patient who comes for consultation for the first time. If a senior resident doctor provides consultation, around 30-minutes is allotted. Sources said that increasing out-patient and in-patient services at Gandhi Hospital will draw more patients.
"In Hyderabad, Psychiatry services are provided at the Institute of Mental Health, Erragadda and at Gandhi Hospital near Musheerabad.
A person feels secure to opt for psychiatry services at Gandhi Hospital as it is a general hospital. But stigma is attached to anyone visiting IMH at Erragadda. Instead of increasing the OP and IP services at Gandhi Hospital to cater to more patients, the number of OP rooms has been reduced," sources said, adding that the Psychiatry department needs more staff to extend the services.
Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital Dr P Shravan Kumar said the problem is temporary and the required space will be provided, maybe after four or five months.
Dept's ills at a glance
Two or three patients are counselled simultaneously in one room with the number of Psychiatry OP rooms reduced from five to three.
If there is an overflow of patients, consultation is provided in the corridors of the hospital.
In the Psychiatry OP Section, counselling and consultation is provided to those who survived suicide attempts, post-operative cases, schizophrenia, and others.
OP rooms were reduced to accommodate a diagnostic centre which is being built on the ground floor of OP Block.
Hospital authorities said it is a temporary issue and the required space according to MCI rules, will be provided in five months.