Spread over 2.5 acres, B.R. Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini caters to a population of nearly a million in North-West Delhi. The result: long queues and overcrowded counters. Coupled with lack of infrastructure and shortage of manpower, this double-storey, 500-bed general medicine hospital can be quite chaotic at times.
While there are long queues outside the eight out patient department (OPD) counters, the vast, airy hospital seems to provide a happy space for children to play and wait for their parents.
On an average, each counter receives about 250 patients a day. “Sometimes, we make parchis for around 1,000 people in a day. Some of the patients have to return the following day,” said an attendant at the counter.
Common complaintAt the special senior citizen section, elderly patients had to bear the stench emanating from unclean and unhygienic washrooms.
Many had one common complaint: “There is just one doctor and no attendant.”
Other departments like the orthopaedics and gynaecology have about four doctors each.
Around 3,500 senior citizens come to the hospital every day and many of them have to make repeated visits as they leave without getting a chance to see the doctor on the first day.
Said Gulshan Kumar: “I am 61-year-old. The doctor asked me to come on an empty stomach for an 11.30 a.m. appointment. It is already 1.30 p.m. I am afraid that I might faint anytime now.”
Apart from the minimal consultation fees, medicines are also available at nominal rates in the hospital.
However, V.K. Sharma, a patient, pointed out: “The cost of medicines range from 50 paise to Rs.5, but the doctors here prescribe expensive medicines that have to be purchased form outside.”
Gynaecology ward horrorsThe gynaecology department at the hospital is clearly the most crowded place.
An employee, who has been working at the department for 11 years, said: “There is no space and staff to attend to poor pregnant women when they are close to delivery time. The delivery room is around 50 m away from the wing where they are lodged. Sometimes, it gets so overcrowded that many of them going through labour pain are left unattended.”
He added: “There are two cleaners who assist women at advanced stage of pregnancy. Sometimes there have been cases where women have given birth on the floor in the presence of the crowd because there was no one to attend to them or take them to the delivery room.”
Most women patients also complaint that most gynaecologists are rude to them.
“When I complained about irregular periods, one doctor alleged in front of my in-laws that I must have had relations with other men. It was humiliating,” said Bhavna, a patient.
Other patients nodded in agreement about the coarse behaviour of some of the gynaecologists.
There are also complaints about how the security guards extract money from the patients.
Said an elderly patient: “These guards take money from the patients to push their names up on the list. Then they will pretend that they have helped the hospital staff.”
A young researcher from the Hansraj Research Institute, Vinod Kumar, had an argument with a woman guard outside a doctor’s cabin. She did not allow him to go inside the doctor’s cabin without a bribe. The rate ranges from Rs.50 to Rs.200.
A differently-abled teacher, Jhanvi, said she had to shell out Rs.100 to get a wheelchair at the hospital. Many broken, non-functional wheelchairs were seen stacked in a corner.
The hospital’s versionA senior doctor and former administration in-charge, while speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Though the gynaecology department is the worst affected, the load it takes should not be overlooked. The delivery rate here is between 40 and 50 every day; 12,000 in a year and of these 25 per cent are caesarean cases. In comparison, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital has about 10,000 delivery cases in a year with a significantly higher number of resident doctors.”
Shortage of staff, he said, was also another problem area.
“We have only one radiologist and he has to do around 50 to 60 ultrasound every day. Many cases that we get are also medico-legal cases, and the same person has to go to the courts also. How much can he do?”
“Five years ago, it was a 200-bed hospital, now it is a 540-bed hospital, with the same number of staff members. Over the years, population in and around Rohini has also increased. We are also a referral hospital for almost all hospitals and small medical units close by. To cater to such a huge demand, we only have a staff strength of 950,” the former administration in-charge added.
The hospital may get 444 new doctors and technicians soon.
“It took more than one year for the request to get processed within the hospital administration. The request will soon go to Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung,” he shared.
