Dark spots plague resident doctors’ safety net in Lucknow
A visit by HT to KGMU and Lohia hospital reveals that resident doctors’ plight is in need of an urgent dose of relief, including enhanced security and better working conditions
Cramped work stations, long working hours (up to 16-hour shifts on average), dark spots in the safety net and the risk of falling sick are among the factors that multiply the struggle of resident doctors, whose working conditions are in focus after the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in a Kolkata hospital earlier this month.
HT visited the over century-old prestigious King George’s Medical University and the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Lucknow for a reality check of the difficulties that resident doctors face while discharging their duty.
Sample this. It’s 11pm. Amid tremendous stress, two resident doctors were seen attending 24 patients on stretchers, all crying in pain, at the state’s first Trauma Centre at KGMU.
Working diligently, these two resident doctors completed the papers of the patients, suggesting diagnostic tests and planning to shift them to wards so that more patients can be accommodated on arrival.
“Poor facilities” make matters worse at the premier medical university that has been churning out doctors since 1911. The medical university has alumni across the globe who are proudly referred to as Georgians
The campus has over 1900 resident doctors and senior residents working in three-dozen clinical/surgical departments.
In fact, when HT team visited the 450-bed KGMU Trauma Centre, the resident doctors were the only ones to attend and cater to patients here as senior doctors go home after 4 pm. Many resident doctors were seen sitting on stools.
A majority of the departments at the trauma centre have 10 by 6 feet or even smaller rooms/space for resident doctors. Stashed with utility items that the residents carry, there is hardly any scope for comfort or privacy. Comparatively better facilities are available for surgery residents -- a proper room with a bed to relax. In a majority of the other departments, there is a mat on the concrete slab. This is all that the residents get to sit on, eat snacks or have tea in privacy.
“There is no room where we can lock ourselves, wash our face and get a power nap during extended duty hours. Basic needs are just a dream if we think of proper hygiene. The toilets are often shared by many staff, putting ourselves at the risk of infection,” said a woman resident doctor, who did not wish to be named.
The 126-acre campus has hostels for men and women residents, all situated at a distance from one another. Most of the resident doctors walk between the trauma centre and hostels, crossing several dark spots in between. “There are security guards and (they) are awake most of the time. But the dark spots are an opportunity for anti-social elements,” said another woman resident doctor.
“At least twice in the past few months, strangers could enter the girls’ hostel via the main gate. They were nabbed, as our guards were alert and were ousted but such incidents demand CCTV cameras with night vision on stretches that have hostels,” said an MBBS student.
She said, “Returning late from duty/posting to hostel makes another issue as the main gate is locked and it is difficult to get it opened despite having a valid reason.”
The issues do not stop here as porous security gives mischief mongers the chance to enter emergency wing.
When HT team visited the main gate, security guards – at least two men and two women -- were on duty. They hardly checked anyone for a pass (necessary for attendants to enter the trauma centre building), neither for the belongings that attendants carried. There is no door frame metal detector, which has been installed by every private hospital having over 200-beds. People are not being checked for sharp weapons.
When asked, the authorities said they were aware of the issues and will soon resolve them.
“We have spoken to residents and are making a list of corrections to be done. Soon, a room attached with toilet will be provided to female residents in the emergency wing, and the campus will be free from dark zones. Also residents living outside hostel will get facility to be escorted by security to workplace,” said KGMU vice chancellor Prof Soniya Nityanand.
The KGMU trauma centre gets over 400 serious/critical patients in 24 hours and resident doctors are posted in different shifts. At a time, about 70 to 100 residents are working there, managing everything.
“Forget the canteen. If we need a cup of tea, that’s fetched from roadside stalls in plastic pouches and we have it in paper cups that have plastic coating. Something we would never want to do, but have to under compulsion,” said another resident on the night shift.
The shift changes at night and going back to the hostel is yet another issue for women residents. Crossing the busy Shahmina Road or walking through the dark patches on the campus is a risk they face every day.
“Mostly we call a friend and keep talking to make sure if we encounter an unwanted person, we have someone to raise an alarm at once,” said another female resident.
While residents in ophthalmology department use a common toilet also used by VIP patients, and para-medical staff, the anaesthesia department residents have a ‘sofa room’ to relax. They have learned from their seniors that proper facilities are a dream and do not know when it will be realised.
The picture does not change for the better at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Gomti Nagar. During a visit between 3 and 4pm, the HT team found there were no security checks at any of the points within the hospital and the institute. The hospital’s main emergency ward had 15 beds with 17 patients.
The forms of the patients were being filled in by the resident doctors. There were five resident doctors available in the emergency ward and only one senior doctor.
The guard did not stop people from entering the ward unchecked.
A resident doctor suggested that the security system of the hospital should be enhanced with various functional cameras at every point of the whole campus.
Several major issues were pointed out by a senior official, such as some patients entering the hospital with over five attendants and sitting outside the ward, enjoying their meals. When asked to leave, either one of the attendants starts fighting or they refuse to go.
In this case, it usually gets very difficult to remove them from there, this official said, asking not to be named.
A letter highlighting several points, including strengthening the security in the entire campus area, was written by resident doctors to the hospital administration.
The letter said the departments should tighten the arrangements in residential blocks on the campus, where there is a very small number of lights along with working CCTV cameras.
Meena Jauhari, public relations officer (PRO) of Lohia Hospital, stated that currently no resident doctor is on strike, but many resident doctors were not attending to their allotted wards.