The death of a young mother and her new born baby in the female hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) due to alleged negligence of doctors and attending staff has once again brought under spotlight the grim reality of the crumbling health services in Uttarakhand.
In the female wing of the biggest hospital of the State, the conditions are so pathetic that the patients are forced to occupy a place on the floor. What is more, the hospital is plagued by severe shortage of doctors and other staff.
Observers say that the downward curve of the facility had started when it along with the Doon Hospital had been merged with the GDMC to meet the regulations of the Medical Council of India (MCI) for a medical college. “The merger of these hospitals ensured that Dehradun was left with no district hospital.
The erstwhile Doon Female Hospital had a sanctioned capacity of 110 beds. But following its merger in the medical college, the number of beds was brought down to 40 to fulfill the MCI guidelines. Accordingly, the number of posts of the doctors was also reduced,” said an observer.
However, despite the capacity of the hospital being cut down, resulting in dwindling health facility, the inflow of patients in the hospital keeps rising.
At present, the hospital staffs have arranged 113 beds in the hospital, but more than 150 patients throng the hospital daily for admission.
The hospital also caters to a huge number of pregnancy cases which ensures that it is always crammed with patients. The hospital at present has only eight gynecologists against the sanctioned posts of 21. Similarly the hospital has only 21 nurses, the number being woefully inadequate in view of the number of the admitted patients. The hospital has only one radiologist due to which the expectant mothers have to wait for a month to get the ultrasound done.
The Neonatal ward of the hospital is also plagued by grim staff crunch and dearth of equipment like ventilators and baby warmers.