One of the best and largest hospitals in Asia, Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (KMCH) does not have communication devices (telephones) in any of the wards. It delays treatment in emergency situations as the staff here have no option, but run to blood banks, operation theatres and other places to convey messages. A number of requests were given in this regard, but nothing has been done so far. It poses threat to the lives of patients, even as it causes delay in treatments. “It is absolutely shameful to say that in the 21st century, such a huge hospital does not have a phone connection in any of its 56 wards. We suffer in emergency situations as we have to run here and there in search of doctors and other people.” “One doctor here has to handle two to three wards at a time and we are unable to locate him in emergency situations,” says Satheesh Kumar M, district vice-president of Kerala Government Nurses Association. Being a Medical College Hospital, most of the patients admitted here need special care, and delay in treatment might put their lives in danger. “Already there are some procedural delays involved everywhere. In addition to this, lack of phone connections in wards adds up to the mess,” says Satheesh. He also says that they had raised the matter in various staff meetings and mentioned the issue several times to the superintendent. “Though the superintendent promised to consider the issue many times, nothing has been done so far,” says Satheesh. It is the patients who suffer the most due to this. “One day I called the casualty and enquiry to get the details of a patient in ward number 33 to know whether he has been discharged or not. The staffer who attended the call said he had no clue about the patient. When I asked him to connect me to the ward he said there was no phone connection available in the ward. As there was no other option available, I visited the ward only to know the patient was discharged hours ago,” says Latheef K, a resident of Puruvanna. He also says that phone connections would be a relief to patients to get things done in emergency without visiting the blood bank, labs, xray unit or scanning centres. When contacted, Dr M P Sreejayan, Superintendent at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, says, “Setting up of phone connections is under consideration and the work has been assigned to BSNL. The work was supposed to be finished by now, but it has not been completed. I will do the needful to finish the work at the earliest.”