Jalandhar civil hospital stroke unit to provide free services
Six days ago (on March 12) when 65-year-old Harbans Kaur of Kishangarh, Bhogpur, was admitted with stroke symptoms, she was not even able to speak. She was admitted in the emergency ward of the Shaheed Babu Labh Singh civil hospital here with a paralysed body.
Six days ago (on March 12) when 65-year-old Harbans Kaur of Kishangarh, Bhogpur, was admitted with stroke symptoms, she was not even able to speak. She was admitted in the emergency ward of the Shaheed Babu Labh Singh civil hospital here with a paralysed body.
She was immediately taken for CT scan and shifted to a small four-bed stroke unit in ICU and administrated a mandatory vaccine within two hours of her admission. After few days of treatment here she is able to speak and move her right hand. Hailing from an economically week background, her family blesses the civil hospital staff for helping her to recover.
Her husband Moti Ram claimed, “I did not have enough money at the time of her admission and was worried for her treatment.” Ram who works as daily wager told, “I came to know about the free treatment after reaching here.” Like Kaur, more than 125 such patients have already undergone treatment at this unit and recovered. A team of dedicated and trained nurses, physician and physiotherapist work round the clock under the supervision of medical specialists Dr Kashmiri Lal and Dr Tarsem Lal. Dr Kashmiri Lal told HT, “The TPA vaccine costs around ₹60,000-₹ 80,000 in private hospitals and it is available here free of cost.” He said that the patients, recovering from a stroke, need emotional care and family support and such training has also been given to the staff and doctors in the hospital here.
He informed, “The warning symptoms for a stroke are a sudden weakness, numbness on one side of the body, sudden trouble while speaking or understanding, loss of vision in one eye, imbalance, headache and loss of consciousness.”
Lal appealed to the people to come to the civil hospital whenever they notice such symptoms for immediate treatment within four-and-a-half hours, which is the protocol time for treatment. While Dr Tarsem Lal added that the causes of stroke include high blood pressure, smoking or tobacco consumption, diabetes, high cholesterol and others. “People should follow a healthy diet regularly.” Medical superintendent Dr Kanwaljit Singh Bawa stressed the need for an awareness drive through health works to inform the masses about the unit and free treatment for stroke patients. He said that the number of the doctors' team has already been shared with ambulance drivers so that when they will ferry the patients to the hospital, all necessary arrangements will have been made there.