Scorching summer heat is taking its toll on the health of the people due to which the patient load on the hospitals has increased these days. However, leaves and other assignments of Physicians at Doon Hospital here have increased workload of remaining Physicians.
On Wednesday, patients had to wait for hours to get them examined at Out Patient Department (OPD) at Doon Hospital. Only two OPDs of physicians, Dr K C Pant and Dr SD Joshi were seen operating on Wednesday with patients waiting endlessly in big queues. Anil Sharma, a resident of Khurbura, informed that he was waiting for almost three hours but his number had still not arrived.
The ordeal of patients like Sharma did not end with being able to get themselves examined by the physicians as they had to undergo similar experience of standing at long queues outside the medicine distribution counters.
On Wednesday about 1800 new patients registered themselves at the registration counters of the hospital while more than 800 odd patients lined up outside the OPDs. It was learnt that Physician Dr Praveen Panwar was on leave while Dr NS Bisht is on Char Dham Yatra duty and would be available only after June 26. Another physician Dr Alok Tewatia is sent on official assignment in Almora.
The Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of Doon Hospital Dr RS Aswal accepted that physicians of the hospital were under huge patient load these days. He said that physicians were examining more than 200 patients daily these days.
Dr Aswal advised that people should visit Government hospitals like Coronation or Prem Nagar as patient load there is much less.
He informed that the beds in the wards of the hospital were full these days. The hospital has a sanctioned strength of 305 beds. Most the patients visiting the biggest hospital of the state are complaining about fever, diarrhoea and dehydration. The doctors are advising drinking plenty of water, eating fresh food and staying away direct sunlight during day time as some of the measures to remain free from diseases.