Angry patients again engaged in vandalism outside the pathology laboratory of the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) on Tuesday.  The long queues and surge of patients propelled by the pending cases of previous days has destroyed the management of the central lab of the biggest hospital of the state. The patients got irked when the staff of the lab closed the counter for taking the blood samples at 12.30 pm. They pushed the door of the room and smashed its glass panes which caused the alarmed employees to escape from the backdoor.

Rukhsana, a resident of Muslim Colony told this correspondent that she was waiting in a long serpentine queue for more than 4 hours but when her turn was about to come, the door of the room collecting blood samples was closed.  The ordeal of the patients like her can be understood from the fact that they have to stand in long queues outside the registration counters and OPD and if the doctor recommends some pathology test they have to again stand in queues at billing counter and pathology lab.

“We are poor people and cannot afford exorbitant fees of the private pathology labs but in this hospital mismanagement reign supreme,’’ said Deen Dayal of Dl road.   The patient load in the laboratory of the hospital was increased when the lab of the adjoining female wing was closed and merged with it due to which the number of female patients has suddenly increased.

To make matters worse, the medical college administration failed to increase the number of counters and some of the laboratory technicians were shifted to the medical college where at present they have no work.

One of staff members of the pathology department said that more than 325 samples were tested by the lab on the day. He said that the problem is that that pending cases of the previous day arrive as early as 6 AM. A social worker, Kamal Devradi said that the lab staff should put in extra hours of work for two three days to clear the backlog after which things would return back to normal.

The former state convenor of the Aam Aadami Party (AAP), Anoop Nautiyal met the Principal of the college, Dr Pradeep Bharati Gupta and demanded that the better arrangements should be made at the pathology lab so that the patients are spared of the ordeal. 

The Principal of the GDMC, Dr Gupta said that the college would provide six technician and one computer operator to the pathology department to increase manpower there.