Can OGH save lives?

March 18, 2013 11:02 pm | Updated June 13, 2016 01:52 pm IST

A group of highly-regarded senior doctors and medical educators who independently visited the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) three days after the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts last month have said that the medical services at the hospital are in shambles.

The doctors, who at one time also served as OGH superintendents, felt that the government should show urgency in improving the facilities. The report prepared by them pointed out the infrastructure deficiencies in the OGH emergency wing which were also highlighted in these columns.

The group consisted of former Director of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) D. Raja Reddy, former Director of Medical Education Dr. K. Satyanarayana, former Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr. Shyam Sundar, former OGH Superintendent and renowned heart surgeon Dr. Sudhir Nayak, former Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Dr. C. B. Srinivas Rao and former OGH Superintendent and senior nephrologist Dr. A. Gopal Kishan.

“We were shocked to see the deplorable condition in the hospital, which still has talented doctors,” said Dr. A. Gopal Kishan. The team also took a head count of the health care workers present at the hospital’s casualty wing between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on February 21. Nearly 132 health care workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, laboratory workers, class IV employees, volunteered to work on that day.

Despite the presence of medical personnel, all blast victims were shifted to corporate hospitals from OGH. To bolster the report, the team took pictures of the hospital infrastructure, or the lack of it, for documentary evidence. “We decided to ascertain ourselves why the hospital struggled on that night. The government immediately has to transform the emergency wing,” observed Dr. Gopal Kishan.

Since December the two vital health wings, Acute Medical Care (AMC) and Acute Surgical Care (ASC), where critical patients are shifted from emergency, are still under repair. The report found rusting hospital beds and tables in operation theatres, non-functioning CT scan machine, absence of 24-hour laboratory services and equipment like pulse oxymeter, defibrillators, ventilators and CPR machines etc in the emergency wing.

“The emergency wing has to be transformed immediately, and the rest of the hospital should be refurbished within a year. If it doesn’t happen, the public will lose faith in government hospitals,” Dr. Gopal Kishan pointed out. The team is waiting to get an appointment to meet the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and submit the report.

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