CUTTACK: Health Minister Prasanna Acharya might have found the bad at Sambalpur district headquarters hospital (DHH) recently but the situation is worse at Bhadrak DHH. If there were serious deficiencies in the functioning of Sambalpur DHH, Bhadrak hospital presents a picture of ‘exploitation’ of poor patients by doctors and staff alike. There is maladministration on all fronts from infrastructure and facilities to sanitation and biomedical waste disposal, the High Court-appointed Advocates’ Committee has observed. Committee members amicus curiae PR Das, advocate Tarananda Patnaik and Dr PK Pradhan on Sunday visited the DHH to witness serious lapses. Free medicines at the hospital are not provided to patients rather they are forced to buy them, the Committee found out during the inspection. What is more disturbing is that even pregnant women, brought to the hospital for delivery under the Janani Surakhya Yojana, are being compelled to buy medicines when they should be provided free, the amicus curiae said. The committee noted that patients are being treated in grossly miserable conditions. The bed-sheets were not cleaned and the wards stinking due to lack of proper sanitation. The sole operation theatre in the hospital seriously lacks in infrastructure and equipment. Further, the hospital campus has fallen victim to unchecked encroachment. Permanent structures have been constructed on the encroached land by people to set up shops and marketplaces, Das pointed out. Biomedical waste handling and disposal system is virtually nonexistent though bins have been put up in wards and departments. More than 75 per cent of hazardous waste, generated by the hospital, is indiscriminately dumped in drains and along roads. The Committee would submit a detailed report on the ‘sordid state of affairs’ to the High Court, Das stated.
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