WHERE WARD BOYS LORD OVER PATIENTS!
In public hospitals, ward boys refuse to wheel patients from ward to ward, but no one questions them, not even the deans
Patients being wheeled from one ward to another by their relatives is a common sight in public hospitals in Mumbai. No one questions the ward boys who are supposed to do this, least of all the deans of these hospitals.
This correspondent has come across aged parents struggling to push the stretcher carrying their son even as ward boys sit and chat.
“Despite her age my wife has to wheel me from one department to another everyday. The ward boys straightaway refuse to help even if it is raining,” said Iswarappa Alidra, a patient at Nair hospital.
Dr Avinash Supe, dean of Sion hospital blamed it on staff shortage. “We have however recruited 64 staff in the last month and will be recruiting more in the coming months. The available staff are all involved in their duties.”
On being told by this correspondent that she had seen ward boys chatting amongst themselves and misbehaving with the patients and their family members on being asked for help he said, “I am not aware of it. The problem will be looked into.”
Dr Shrikant Pandit, former president of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, says that the corporation and government hospitals have been facing the problem of staff shortage since a long time.
“The class IV unions have been fighting for the re- cruitment of permanent members for the post of ward boys and maidens. However, the matter is pending in the corporation,” said Pandit.
According to Pandit, hospital authorities are against recruitment of permanent ward boys because such people become about their jobs.
The class IV union however says that they do not have any problem with the authorities recruiting new members for helping patients. “Why would we oppose, it is diminishing our work pressure after all,”
careless said Abhimanyu More of Secretary of Labour Union at Nair hospital
“There is just one ward boy for 50 patients. We cannot go after every patient,” said More.
Anil Samant, secretary of the labour union of KEM hospital said that they have been underpaid in comparison to the quality of work they are made to do. “Our working hours extend from 12 to 13 hours. We are not responsible for the staf f shortage, why can’t the authorities recruit more people for wheeling patients.”
Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean of Nair hospital, sees a gesture for humanity in the relatives wheeling patients rather than failure of the system.
“India is a great country. The ward boys may be busy because of overload of work due to which people must be helping them,” he said.
When asked about the battery-operated van to ferry patients which is lying unused since three months now, he said, “I am unaware about any such van. The battery-operated vans were bought a year back from Pune. If they are not working then we will look into the matter.”
Dr Anant Phadke of Jan Aarogya Abhiyan said, “This is such a basic thing. Why is the authority thinking that the appointment of permanent ward boys will make them irresponsible? Is it because they themselves being permanent are acting irresponsibly and taking their jobs for granted.”