Broad corridors and small rooms at old building of Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Mehdipatnam, were packed with hundreds of people waiting for the vision to be checked. The atmosphere was tense on Monday morning as people who have been waiting for two to three hours were taking every chance to yell at Optometry students and staff who were checking their sight.
Staff said that they work under the hostile situation regularly since hundreds of patients seek the services at the government hospital.
There is a long pending need for more space to be allotted, ideally in a new building, at the hospital to check eye sight of hundreds of patients, and equipment such as slit lamps too. There are only eight slit lamps against the need of around 20.
Almost all patients who opt for out-patient services have to get their eye sight checked. Around 600-800 patients visit OP in a day. There is one OP registration counter. One can imagine the rush there. After registration, people are not told which room to visit, which lands them in confusion.
A series of narrow rooms in series are used to check the patients. Snellen charts (with letters arranged on it) used to check the sight are hung in the corridors. Patients sitting in the room have to read letters on the charts.
However, the swelling crowd in the corridors often come in way of the patients and the Snellen Charts. The students and staff who ask the patients to move aside are angrily asked how long should they wait.
The patients were seen sandwiched in queues on Monday morning. Most of them regularly lifted themselves on toes, extended their necks to see if the serpentine queue is moving. But they sighed in disappointment. Some of them, especially those in old age, who could not stand in jam packed queue.
“Why can’t the hospital use space available in the first floor to check us,” questioned attendant of the patient who has been waiting for over two hours.
“There is shortage of faculty as nine of them were either transferred, or promoted and moved to other hospitals. This has extended waiting time for patients in Occuloplasty, Retina, Cornea units. Besides, we need more equipment,” a source in the hospital said.
Superintendent of the hospital Dr V Rajalingam said that there is no obstruction to the services provided to the patients in Occuloplasty, Retina, Cornea units. Regarding the rush in out-patient section, he said that they have placed a request for a new building which would help cutting down the waiting time.
