KOCHI: Lack of treatment facilities and specialist surgeons at the Ernakulam Medical College Hospital (MCH) and the General Hospital (GH) is causing severe inconvenience to patients and forcing them to rely on private hospitals, which charge hefty sums despite people suffering due to the pandemic.
“My nine-year-old son complained of stomach pain and a growth was found during scanning at a private hospital in Vyttila. They said it should be removed. We could not afford the amount they asked for. We approached the Ernakulam MCH and later the GH, but came to know that there were no paediatric surgeons at both hospitals. We were asked to approach the Kottayam MCH,” said Upendranath T R, an artist and a resident of Vyttila.
“Many families are going through a tough phase due to the pandemic. We have been hit financially for two years,” he said.
Not just Upendranath, but many others like him are forced to seek treatment elsewhere due to lack of facilities at the Ernakulam MCH and the GH.
Ernakulam MCH lacks specialist surgeons in many important branches including neurology, urology, cardiology, paediatrics and gastro.
“We do not have an efficient trauma care wing and the emergency department attends to major cases and provides basic treatment. We normally refer critically-ill patients to Kottayam and Thrissur medical colleges or private hospitals. The main crisis that we face is a lack of enough ICU beds to treat non-Covid patients. There are only 14 ICU beds to cater to them. Admission is not denied, but people generally prefer not to wait until beds get vacant,” said a senior doctor at the Ernakulam MCH.
Adding to the woes, casualty block is being renovated at the MCH and it is now functioning in a ward.
The psychiatry in-patient wing stopped functioning after the ward was converted into Covid triage area. MCH officials say the upcoming super-specialty block would resolve many issues.
“The state of our MCH is pathetic. The work on the super-specialty block is progressing at a slow pace, mainly due to lack of manpower,” said Dr N K Sanil Kumar, a member of Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement.