The patients have to pass through an ordeal of standing in long queues at Doon hospital, the biggest hospital of the state for getting them treated. The patients could be seen standing in unending queues at the registration counter, Out Patient Departments (OPDs), central billing counter, pathology labs and medicine counters of the hospital.
The patients have to first line up at the registration counter for registering themselves which is valid for 15 days only. After the registration the patients wait in the queue before the OPD of the doctor concerned. If the doctor advices some test than they have to deposit the fees at the billing counter and then they again line up before the pathology laboratory to give the samples. Most of the OPDs are situated in the ground floor of the new building of the hospital but some like orthopedics (main building) and neuro surgery (I floor) are located at other places and most of the patients struggle to find them. Sahil Pal a resident of Jogiwala told this correspondent that the standing in queues consumes so much time and if the doctor advice some test then the patient has to revisit the hospital next day. Standing in a long queue before the pathology lab, Azad colony resident Rukhsana said that she was advised some tests by the doctor and as it included fasting sugar test also she has not eaten anything since morning.
The Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of the hospital, Dr RS Aswal said that the number of patients increase in the rainy season.He said that nowadays more than 2000 new patients are registered daily in the hospital. He added that the hospital authorities are doing their best to manage the services with the available resources at their disposal.