KENDRAPARA: The government-run community health centre (CHC) at Aul presented an appalling picture on Monday as around 30 women were forced to lie on the hospital floor just after undergoing sterilisation surgery due to a lack of beds. Rajendra Das of nearby Olaver village said his wife was among the patients who had to sleep on the floor after the operation. “She was not given a bed to rest and the hospital staff was least bothered about her plight. Even the doctors did not attend to her properly,” he alleged.
Similarly, Prafulla Das of Padanapur had also come to the CHC for family planning operation of his wife but was shocked over the dismal condition of the hospital. “We had no idea that the hospital was so terribly crowded and patients have to wait many hours to avail treatment. My wife had to wait for medical care lying on the floor,” he complained. Minati Jena, one among the women who underwent the surgery said, “There were dead bodies in the ward and we didn’t want to wait for the post-surgery care lying near them. So, we chose to take rest on the CHC verandah.”
Sources said overcrowding is a persistent problem in the hospital due to the lack of infrastructure and enough space. Patients sleeping on the floor of different wards is a common sight in the CHC. The inordinate delay in the construction of an extension block of the CHC is the reason for patients undergoing this ordeal. There have been many instances when patients are discharged in a hurry to accommodate others who are on the waiting list, alleged Bidhan Das, a social worker of Aul.
Contacted, medical officer of Aul CHC Dr. Swati Nayak said, “Three dead bodies were lying in one of the wards of the hospital. As a result, some of the women refused to take rest inside the ward after the operation. It was a minor surgery and we discharged all the sterilised women on the same day of the operation.”