GTB Hospital in dire need of proper INFRASTRUCTURE, STAFF, SAY PATIENTS
NEW DELHI: While catering to a large population of East Delhi and neighbouring states, the mismanagement and shortage of staff have added to the miseries of patients of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. This hospital has a footfall of nearly 10,000 patients every day.
“Four mortalities have been registered in a single day due to lack of ventilator and other support. Though we have received nearly 20 ventilators, but due to the shortage of technicians, trained nursing staff and specialist doctors and lacking facility of centralised oxygen supply leave these life supports unused,” said a senior doctor at GTBH.
“Interestingly, a private lab support has been provided to out- patient but inhouse patients are at the mercy of mal-functional diagnoses machines,” he added.
Despite a new building adjacent to the old one, mismanagement and lax attitude on the part of GTB Hospital authorities have prevented resolution of a host of problems. Though some parts of the new building are being used, it has not done much to ease the sufferings of patients.
In the maternity care ward, two to three patients are forced to share a single bed. This cosharing is because a large portion of the building still remains non-functional.
According to sources at the hospital, the infrastructure is affecting operations in the new building. Also, many important wards, including the surgery wards, have not been set up properly in the new building. “We also need additional staff to attend to patients there,” a source added.
“Inside the main hospital, two to three patients are forced to share a single bed. Only those with serious infections are kept isolated,” said a staff nurse.
Acute shortage in the number of hospital attendants force family members to accompany the patient to the hospital, adding to the already-burdened infrastructure.
“These family members are, in fact, seen doing most jobs that the hospital staff ought to be doing — from carrying the patient to the ward to cleaning the room where they have been admitted,” added the source.
“My mother was admitted here after she had received knife wounds in a burglary incident at home. There was no one to help us while shifting the patient to ward after the emergency care. My brother and I had to find a trolly and take her to the designated ward,” said Narendra Kumar, a shop owner.
Reportedly, inside the ward, the patient's attendants are seen cleaning the wards. A 53-yearold lady from Seelam pur, whose younger son is admitted here, revealed that “my son has been admitted here for last three months and I accompany him every time. Other attendants and I clean the ward by ourselves.”
The sanitation staffs clean the corridors. Even if they step inside to clean, the job is not done properly, so we prefer doing it by ourselves,' he added.
Even though the Delhi government has provided free medicine but getting medicine from hospital pharmacy is a herculean task. The hospital pharmacy is supposed to stay open round the clock but it shuts by 2 PM. Thereafter, only one window remains open until 8 pm, which is not enough to cater hundreds of patients.
According to the official sources at GTBH, the pharmacy needs to be closed early because there is a shortage of pharmacist in the hospital. “Later on these pharmacists are compelled to an administrative job inside the hospital,” said GTBH officials.