The strike of nurses has derailed the health services in the Government hospitals of the State. The number of in house patients in the Government hospitals of the State has reduced and the wards are wearing a deserted look.
The Government hospitals have started refusing admissions to the patients. The Operation Theatres (OTs) of the Government hospitals have stopped functioning in absence of trained staff nurses. The poor patients are bearing the brunt of the strike as they are forced to shell out extra money in the private hospitals. The private hospitals are making the most of the strike of the nurses due to increased patient foot fall in their facilities.
At Doon hospital here the new patient admission has dropped drastically in last four days. On a normal day 70-80 patients are admitted in the hospital but in last three days the new patient admission has reduced to almost half. On Thursday till 2 PM only four patients were admitted.
The 305 bed hospital is usually crowded with the in house patients but nowadays the in-house patients are reduced to half. It was learnt that only three children are remaining in the pediatric ward. In the neighbouring Doon Women hospital the situation is similar.
On Wednesday only 12 new patients were admitted in the hospital where more than 50 new patients are admitted daily on normal days. The Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) of Doon Women hospital, Dr Meenakhi Joshi said that the hospital is now catering only normal deliveries and the cases of caesarean deliveries are being referred to Mahant Indiresh hospital.
In the bigger hospitals like Doon hospital and Sushila Tiwari hospital Haldwani the authorities are trying to salvage the situation by deploying medical interns, pharmacists and nursing students but in other district hospitals, PHCs and CHCs the situation is more grim. One of an employee of District hospital Pauri said that patient inflow in the OPDs too has decreased due to the strike of nurses.