Slow OPDS, delayed surgeries at top private hospitals
nNEWDELHI: The three-year-old son of Sandeep Rajput, who works as a technician for a leading carmanufacturing company, has not stopped crying from pain. he toddler has a severe ear infection that needs immediate surgery. But, for the last two weeks, his parents have been struggling to get a date for an operation at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, which is one of Delhi’s largest private hospitals.
“You can see the puss oozing out of his infected ear; it stinks and the doctor who saw him two weeks ago had also said that he needed surgery at once. We have been trying for the past two weeks. But are told to come back later. On Friday, we went to the hospital again and they asked us to come back on Monday. Today, the wait was very long, so we were asked to come again on Tuesday. The delay, they said, happened because the Covid areas were being segregated from non-covid areas,” he said.
“It is getting difficult to manage him. He’s been in great pain ; the symptoms began a month ago. I hope it does not get delayed further,” added the boy’s mother Neelam, even as she struggles to pacify him.
Elsewhere, Praveen Kuchhal’s younger brother, who is 48 years old and did not want be named, said he had to wait for a month before he underwent a surgery to get one of his kidneys removed at
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. “It was taking long but then we thought it was good the hospital is taking precautions,” the man, who is a Delhi-based businessman, said.
The Delhi government last month asked Gangaram hospital to be converted into a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) care centre. Ever since the government order, the hospital has been working to make the necessary arrangements, leading to delays and inconveniencing patients.
The hospital at present has 204 Covid beds, of which 134 are occupied, as per the Delhi Corona app on Monday. The hospital’s out patient-departments (OPDS) now barely treat 250 patients in a day, as compared to around 2,000 that it used to before the pandemic.
“We have been visiting this hospital for years now. It has always been busy. But this time around, it is taking longer than usual. There are fewer patients and even fewer doctors,” said Raj Kumar, a Noida-based businessman. Kumar’s uncle is undergoing treatment in the orthopaedic department.
The hospital — one of the busiest private health hubs in the city — has been working at nearly 45% of its doctor strength in its OPDS for the past couple of months due to Covid restrictions.
From 45 OPDS running six days a week that treated 40-50 patients each, the hospital has reduced consultations to about 10-12 patients per OPD. There are no more than 15 OPDS running for two-three days in a week now.
“We are grateful that at least our patient was admitted and treatment started here. There were other smaller hospitals in our area but we had heard they weren’t admitting Covid patients, and that’s why we came here,” said Rakesh Kumar, whose uncle, an unconfirmed Covid-19 case, is undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit of Gangaram.
The hospital is planning to start running full strength from July 1. “It takes time; we should be ready in a couple of days. I am asking all my staff to report back to work. There are many disciplines, like surgical departments, which cannot work online. You need to examine patients. We have to get back to normalcy as soon as possible as right now it is affecting the medical services we offer,” said Dr DS Rana, chairman, board of governors, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
Just a stone’s throw away at BLK Hospital, patients in OPDS are also experiencing long waiting hours as the hospital has also been partially converted into a Covid care centre.
“The screening process, before you even reach the OPD, is taking a lot more time. I was at the hospital at 9am on Friday and till 2pm my wife wasn’t seen by a doctor. We have been treated in the hospital before; it never took us this long. Why cannot they keep Covid patients at a separate hospital; it is causing huge inconvenience,” complained Roop Singh Guleria, a resident of north west Delhi’s GTB Nagar.
The hospital at present is treating 114 Covid-19 patients, as per the Delhi Corona app on Monday.
While emergency cases are being addressed, it is the nonemergency cases that have to face long queues.
“ICU patients are being taken in quickly. But it is the non-emergency cases that you will find complaining as they have to wait longer. Even though the rush is less, it is getting a bit chaotic,” said Rohtash Kaushik, who had come from Haryana to get his father treated for neck cancer.
BLK Hospital did not respond to questions on delayed appointments.