A hospital ails for want of a generator

KOCHI: On paper, the Tripunithura Taluk Headquarters Hospital has everything   a government hospital can possibly ask for. Spacious and well-maintained rooms, doctors, including surgeons under various specialties, nurses, nursing assistants, a state-of-the-art theatre complex with separate labour room, ENT theatre, ortho theatre, labour room and surgery theatre.  But true as all this might be, patients who come for surgery are being referred to the Ernakulam General Hospital. So, what went wrong with the hospital? The issues begin with something as  simple as a power generator. Though a huge amount was sanctioned for the theatre complex from various  quarters, most of it was used up for equipment. This left the authorities  with inadequate funds to install an electric generator to cater to the needs  of the theatre.   A sum of `35 lakh was sanctioned for the much-needed theatre complex and  over `10 lakh by the National Rural Health Mission. “However, the hospital  staff managed to source funds from private parties. But, the generator has not yet materialised due to procedural delays,”, said a doctor at the hospital.Meanwhile, the theatre complex has been gathering dust. And this has resulted in the old postpartum theatre being used for all the operations.  Hence, despite the availability of all the surgeons, at least four patients are being referred to the Ernakulam general hospital. Staff Shortage Since as per the records the theatre complex is not functional, the government has failed to recognise the need for an additional staff.  “Though there are required number of doctors and equipment, there is a shortage of assisting staff. This means that surgeries are done with the  assistance of a single nurse which can be very risky,” a doctor said. The shortage of staff has also forced the doctors do works like setting the theatre and cleaning the equipment, thereby reducing the hours for consultation with out-patients. Besides, the nurses have to work for 12 or 14 hours in a stretch owing to shortage of staff.Despite repeated requests, there has not been any response from the authorities in this regard. “We have examined the request sent by the staff. The hospital has already been allotted maximum staff. There is no way we can increase the number of postings,” said District Medical Officer Sudhakaran.