Jajpur, June2: “We have come to the hospital and our patient, who is pregnant, is forced to sleep on the veranda. There is no fan or mosquito net.”
That’s attendant Kamini Jena’s lament, and it sums up the state of affairs at the Jajpur District Headquarters Hospital here even after crores have been spent on its makeover.
Shortage of doctors and other medical staff besides a lack of adequate infrastructure have combined to make the hospital a virtually defunct facility.
Of the 63 sanctioned doctors’ posts, only 11 are attending to the medical needs of patients coming from and outside the district.
Due to lack of adequate infrastructure and shortage of beds in the hospital, patients, including pregnant women and children, are forced to undergo treatment lying on the floor. Most of the time, the patients are referred to other hospitals, putting the lives of the emergency and critical ones at risk. With no preliminary treatment due to shortage of doctors, many patients have even died while being referred to other hospitals, reports said.
On the other hand, the medical authorities use the staff shortage as an excuse to transfer/refer patients to other hospitals without providing any treatment. Moreover, doctors’ shortage has resulted in long queues and hours of waiting for medical attention.
On March 26, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik opened a Rs14-crore building for Mother and Child Health (MCH). However, the facility is yet to become operational due to shortage of doctors and para-medical staff, sources said.
“Efforts are on to appoint doctors against the vacancies as PAC exam results have been declared. The process of postings has not started yet and we hope things will be streamlined once the recruitment process is complete,” Jajpur Chief District Medical Officer (DMO), Barish Kumar Dash said.
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