Faulty phone lines at GH vex doctors, staff

A number of telephone lines at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GH) did not function on Tuesday.

Hospital sources said this was not the first time the phone service had been disrupted at the hospital. “The main lines, including that of the dean’s office, did not function on Tuesday. Telephone lines of departments housed in the old buildings also faced a similar problem. A few months ago too, this problem occurred,” said a hospital staff member.

Police personnel at the GH outpost said some of the hospital lines had been faulty for nearly four months now. The outpost phone connection though, was intact.

Some of the departments have also not had the intercom facility or a landline connection for years now. “We have not had a phone connection for several years, ever since the new buildings came up at the hospital. We completely rely on our mobile phones,” said a senior doctor.

Another doctor said that since mobile phone networks were often bad in the tower blocks (the two main buildings) it became very difficult when even the landlines failed to function.

“What will happen if someone wants to make an emergency call or a person is trying to reach the hospital in an emergency? A communications system breakdown should be attended to immediately,” he said.