In a recent letter to NDMC mayor Adesh Gupta, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation chairman Surendra Kumar Khurb has written about the steady decline in the quality of facilities at the largest tertiary care hospital run by the municipal body - the Hindu Rao Hospital. He has requested Gupta to take quick action as the patients are suffering because of the lack of doctors and resources at the hospital.
With as many as 900 beds and 2,500 patients every day in its Out-Patient Department and 18,000 major and minor surgeries conducted, Hindu Rao is a major hospital under the civic body. But in the past three years, the hospital has been grappled with inadequate amenities for patient care.
"Plaster is coming off from the ceiling in the children nursery, there are no free medicines available at the pharmacy and the hospital is very dirty and it stinks. I even saw that there was no material for delivery in the labor room and even soap and handwashes were missing. Most importantly, the orthopedic doctor was not there and Dr Negi, the MRD in charge, does not seem to have a degree or specialisation," wrote Khurb in his letter.
Most of the doctors at the hospital are ad-hoc ones i.e. they do not get paid any of the benefits including maternity leave. On its last visit to the hospital, DNA found stray dogs sitting in the anti-rabies clinic. The management, however, said that time to time they had made several complaints and every time the dogs had been taken away for sterilisation only to return with more. The sterilisation centers sometimes release their animals, from other areas, in the hospital, too.
"I know about the problem, but cannot comment on the matter. You should talk to the NDMC in charge," said Dr Suman Mehndiratta, Medical Superintendent, Hindu Rao Hospital.
As per the current figures, as disclosed by a doctor, there is at least a 35 per cent shortage of junior and senior residents and there are no back-up doctors. Water shortage has been another problem at the hospital and many a times surgeries get postponed because of non-availability of water.
POOR STATE
With as many as 900 beds and 2,500 patients every day in its Out-Patient Department and 18,000 major and minor surgeries conducted, Hindu Rao is a major hospital under the civic body. But in the past three years, the hospital has been grappled with inadequate amenities for patient care.
