Resources and medical personnel stretched beyond limits and an infrastructure unable to bear the load – this is the condition of the Capital’s premier children’s hospital, Kalawati Saran.
The 375-bed medical centre, located in the heart of the city, caters to the needs of poor children not just from Delhi, but many Northern States as well. It is among the largest children’s hospitals in Asia with the largest neo-natal wing with 84 beds.
Parents coming to the hospital complain that it ‘looks and feels more like a Mumbai chawl ’. “As soon as one walks into the medical centre, what you first encounter is children’s clothes, saris, towels and bed-sheets spread out to dry on the railing and staircase area of the hospital,” said Bishen Singh, who had come to the hospital with his one-year-old son from Uttar Pradesh.
It is also routine to see parents waiting here allowing their children to defecate and urinate in the open.
“There is nothing in the hospital to ensure that the small children coming here are kept occupied, like having a play area. For the parents, there is no waiting area and the parking space often doubles up as the waiting area,” added Mr. Singh.
The space, staff and resource crunch at the hospital, however, is no deterrent to the parents bringing their children.
“Medical staff at the hospital often go out of their way to accommodate ailing children. They are an exception,” noted Vandana from Gole Market, whose child is under medical investigation for recurring fever.
“The hospital staff [doctors/nurses/paramedics] are polite and usually go out of their way to ensure that the children are looked after well. But yes there is acute staff shortage and sometimes parents have to double up as medical helpers at the hospital,” she added.
While the hospital administration refused to speak about the issues, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in its report has confirmed that “inadequate human resource” is one of the major issues at the hospital. “Long-drawn recruitment policies, lack of strict and regular monitoring of these institutions, growing patient load, lack of support staff, and severe shortage of space are hitting the hospital growth,” noted the report.
The NCPCR report titled ‘Strengthening Health Institutions for Child Health: NCPCR Interventions August 2012-November 2013’ notes: “The hospital was found to have a bed occupancy rate of almost 150 per cent.”
“Besides this, there is shortage of support staff for cleaning, laundry, security and social workers, technicians, and nursing staff. With a severe shortage of space and staff at all levels, especially of the supportive paramedical care, doctors are having to double up for work that is beyond their purview,” noted the report.
Meanwhile, an expansion programme is under implementation to accommodate 1,000 patients. A senior health officer said: “One of the problems at the hospital is lack of a full-time technician for attending instantly to problems with equipment. This has resulted in delays and additional work load on the existing staff.”
