GGH makes patient walk with IV bottle in her hand

Two videos have been circulating highlighting the deplorable state of affairs outside the emergency wing of Gandhi General Hospital. In a video, 85-year-old Magamma is denied a stretcher and forced to carry her IV fluid in her hand as she proceeds to the outpatient wing.

The woman in the video had been was administered the IV in the emergency wing because she had reached the hospital late at night. She was then asked to proceed to the outpatient wing to rest. She had to go up a ramp which was at a considerable incline. Two of her relatives helped her up the ramp while she held her own IV fluid bag. There were no stretchers available, nor were there any wheelchairs outside the emergency and the outpatient wings.

In the other video, a security guard is seen lying outside Sri Sai Medical, a medical store located near the hospital’s emergency wing, holding a bottle of alcohol and caressing a dog.

The guard is seen wearing a blue shirt with red tags, which indicates that he is part of the hospital’s security force, and he appears to be over 50 years of age. The hospital administration denied that the security guard was one of theirs, despite the fact that he was seen wearing a uniform. By the time the administrative staff and other security guards arrived, there was no one there.

The pharmacist working at the medical store said that the night-duty staff had mentioned that there had been a drunkard outside the store, but no one had intervened and no formal complaint was filed. Dr Shravan Kumar, the superintendent of the hospital, said, “I am not aware of these videos, the night-duty resident medical officer might know about them.”

Junior doctors in the emergency wing, on condition of anonymity, said that there was insufficient paramedical staff for the night shift, which is why wheelchairs were unavailable. They added that the stretchers were all occupied by patients who were waiting for beds.