Srinagar, Apr 6: The patient-load in the casualty of GB Pant Children Hospital c causes inconvenience to patients posing risk to their lives.
The patients have to wait for hours to be provided emergency treatment by a limited number of doctors working in the area.
On average, 200 patients are seen in the emergency room of GB Pant Hospital in a day. The small area of the space-constrained Children Hospital is bursting at seams on any given time of the day with a load of patients. The hospital caters to the Pediatric Healthcare needs of the entire Kashmir and districts in Pir Panjal area. While there is a Pediatrician posted in almost all district-level hospitals, in the after-hours there is no availability of these specialists.
A senior pediatrician said that round the clock facility for Pediatric Healthcare is not operational in most hospitals, putting the entire load on the tertiary care GB Pant Hospital for Children. “With time we expected the peripheries to formulate a mechanism to keep the patients in their hospitals except in case of specialised tertiary care treatment. But we are seeing every kind of patient from far off areas here because there are an inadequate number of pediatricians in peripheries,” he said. He added that currently there was an increase in a load of patients due to the seasonal flu. “Imagine, we get patients in emergency for nose congestion also,” the doctor said.
However, at GB Pant Hospital, only five doctors are available in the emergency to cater to the hundreds seeking treatment. These doctors are entrusted with the emergency ward where scores of very sick children are provided immediate treatment in addition to providing emergency consultation. During rush hours, as per the patients, it takes one to two hours to make it to the doctor’s table, despite having an emergency health need. On many occasions, there are ugly scenes of anguished parents trying to expedite treatment for their critically sick children.
One such parent, Mohsin Amin told Greater Kashmir that his toddler was running high and had diahorrhea last week, the loss of fluids deteriorating the condition. “By the time we were seen by a doctor, my little girl had four more motions at the hospital and had turned disoriented,” he said. Moreover, he said, there was no waiting bench or chair. “Even animals deserve better treatment than this. Waiting with sick children in arms for hours for emergency treatment is not acceptable at all,” he said. The lack of adequate staff and space at the hospital has been an unaddressed issue for decades.
Additional Chief Secretary J&K Government (Health and Medical Education) Vivek Bhardwaj told Greater Kashmir that he was aware of the load on the hospital and said that Pediatric Healthcare was expected to improve with fresh recruitment of critical staff. “We have referred posts to J&K Public Service Commission and Service Selection Board. Hundreds of human resources will be added hopefully soon,” he said.