BERHAMPUR: Odisha government’s mission to transform the state’s healthcare service does not reflect in MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur where the medicine ward tells a different story. Patients scrambling for space on the floor braving the bone-chilling cold reveals the sorry state of affairs in the top institution.
The Medicine ward, which has been shifted to the new multi-storey building of the MCH, does not have enough beds to accommodate the patients. In the last two days, around 200 patients have been admitted to the ward which has only 100 beds. Under such circumstances, over half of the patients have been accommodated on the hospital floor without any mattress and sheets despite the winter chill.
Due to the sudden dip in temperature caused by the cold wave, many patients have arrived in the ward with cold-related ailments, hospital authorities said. While the condition of most patients is stable, a couple of them with other complications are being treated on a priority basis, Dr. J Patra of Medicine pointed out.
Apart from the lack of beds, MKCGMCH, one of the state’s premier hospitals, is struggling with shortage of doctors. A glaring example is the Gastroenterology department which is being looked after by a lone doctor that too from Medicine. The department comprises gastromedicine and gastrosurgery units.
In March this year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unveiled the Gastroenterology department in MKCGMCH and accordingly, 19 posts of doctors - 10 for gastrosurgery and nine for gastromedicine - were sanctioned. However, so far, not a single doctor has been appointed against the sanctioned posts.
The sorry state of affairs in MKCGMCH is due to the inefficiency of elected representatives, said senior advocate Pitabas Panda. The district administration and voluntary organisations should lend a helping hand to patients who are suffering in the cold by at least providing them warm clothes, he said.
Hospital superintendent Prof Santosh Mishra refused to comment on the scarcity of beds but said the issue of vacant doctor posts has already been placed before the higher authorities.