As rewarding as Jipmer’s pursuit of medical excellence has been the institution’s growing fame and expanding role as a refuge of the poor. It has created a new set of issues for Jipmer that is saddled with them on a daily basis — overcrowding, bystanders settling down on pavements and mounting garbage.
With the volume of patients and their bystanders ever increasing, nightfall on Jipmer’s sprawling campus invariably sets off a scramble among bystanders for a vacant spot to sleep on.
In addition to those with passes to stay with their patients or are required to wait outside in the designated shed, easily over a 1,000 bystanders go to sleep on the pavements or the road.
Why, even some of the poorer patients whose treatment had been completed prefer to stay on the campus for varying periods of time.
“The volume of patients and their relatives coming to the institution is increasing by the day. The staff strength, including doctors and nurses, has doubled over a year and yet the increasing load of patients has started to strain available resources,” says Dr. T.S. Ravikumar, Jipmer Director.
It is an inescapable fact that in large institutions overcrowding hampers optimal patient care and heightens the risk of community-based infections.
At Jipmer, the garbage created by its dependent patrons is enormous and attracts crows, monkeys, dogs and rats.
“As a director, my concern is heightened when there is a dog bite and I spend sleepless nights worrying over a potential snake bite occurring in this massive crowd,” Dr. Ravikumar said.
Since April, Jipmer initiated a drive to identify factors leading to overcrowding and to evolve better patient comforts.
Apart from a tie-up with Rotary Club of Aurocity for 12 night shelters at the Women and Children’s Hospital with a capacity for 650, other city-based shelter providers have opened their doors for Jipmer dependents and agreed to accommodate at least 250 persons.
Other measures have included drinking water, Battery Operated Vehicles and toilets.
With these facilities in place — and more on the cards, such as opening of 50 rooms with canteen services at nominal rates — Jipmer administration is now focused on maintaining a litter-free campus and streamlining crowd movements within.
