King Koti Hospital might turn into another death hole
It is not just Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) that has been plagued by problems when it comes to treating Covid-19 patients. Hyderabad District Hospital, better known as King Koti Hospital, appears to be faring even worse when it comes to patient care.
Bad infrastructure dogs King Koti Hospital, its senior resident doctors say. In a letter to Director of Medical Education, they have presented a litany of woes, including a single full-fledged pulse oximeter shared among ICUs, lack of batteries to replace drained ones in portable oximeters, no thermometers to check temperatures of patients, not enough blood pressure monitors, and ECG machines that do not work.
Resident doctors say with more than 250 Coronavirus patients admitted in King Koti Hospital, they first brought the issues to notice of RMO, then superintendent; but nothing came out of it. They have now written to the Director of Medical Education.
Senior residents say doctors, who are supposed to take charge and lead the rest through the day; barely spend any time at the hospital, a designated Covid-19 treatment facility.
A senior resident doctor told Deccan Chronicle: “Most permanent doctors don’t even attend to duties. Permanent staff barely works, because they have job security. Even civil surgeons recruited on contract basis skip work. Entire burden falls on senior resident doctors or nursing staff. If the government does not do something soon, we are afraid we will see more deaths among patients,” he warned.
The saddest part, he said, is the ECG machine not working. Ironically, taking ECG on a dead patient is mandatory to officially confirm the death. But the ECG itself is dead.
Staff conditions at work are not very great. Of the 100 or so of a young doctors’ cohort, 40 have been infected by Coronavirus in the ongoing Covid-19 second wave. One of these 40 told Deccan Chronicle: “There are many problems in this hospital, ultimately the patients suffer. We feel depressed when we fail to deliver treatment, even though there is shortage of equipment.”