Bhubaneswar: Thousands of patients who throng the Nuapada District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) seeking quality treatment struggle to even get access to healthcare.
The nodal health care centre of the district which serves thousands of its citizens is struggling for basic amenities to be able to cater to the overwhelming stream of patients. As a result the healthcare centre has failed to maintain basic hygiene and health ambiance especially in their indoor wards.
A spot visit by this correspondent, Sunday, revealed the sorry states of affairs in the hospital which is expected to cater to the district’s population as the nodal health centre.
Several patients who don’t get beds during admission due to the limited capacity of the DHH are often left with no option but to lie on the muddy floor just to get adequate treatment.
“My wife came with the complaint of chest pain. She was admitted to the hospital but we didn’t get a bed here so we opted to lie on the floor just to get treatment,” said Jasomani Behera, a resident from Komana in Nuapada.
Not only the lack of beds, but the unhygienic, dirty, stinky and partially damaged parts of the indoor hospital area are making the experience of the admitted patients a nightmare.
The doctors and paramedics, with no support from the government, continue to serve in the dilapidated hospital premises. Paan and gutka stains are found in abundance on the side walls of the indoor department of the hospital which hosts its admitted patients.
The indoor department of the hospital is also treating Chamru Paharia—a victim of the infamous human trafficking case where his toes and fingers were said to be chopped off by his agents who pursued him to go to Nagpur for wage based works.
The doctors, however, claim that with the coming up of a new proposed building of the Nuapada DHH, the problems could be sorted out sooner.
“Now we are able to cater to around 100 indoor patients. The Mother and Child department had recently been segregated. With the new DHH building, the overall picture of indoor department is likely to get a facelift,” a surgeon at Nuapada DHH requesting anonymity said.
According to the hospital management, the new building is likely to create more the 700 new bed capacity which could improve the intake and care of the patients thronging the DHH.
