Hosp shelter homes: 5.9k patient beds at Lucknow govt hosps, but only 615 for attendants
Only 11% of beds in shelter homes for patient attendants are available at major government hospitals in the city, with many lacking basic facilities.
There are just 11% beds in shelter homes - available to attendants of patients - at the five major government hospitals across the city.
A reality check by the HT team on Sunday found that the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has the capacity to cater 3,500 patients, the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) has 1,100 beds, Syama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital has 300 beds, while Balrampur has 700 beds and Lok Bandhu Raj Narain Hospital (LBRN) has 300 beds. This makes it a total of 5,900 beds.
However, the number of beds for attendants at shelter homes on campuses of these hospitals was far fewer. KGMU has 418 shelter home beds, RMLIMS has 108 shelter home beds, Civil Hospital has just 23 beds, Balrampur has 51 beds and LBRN has just 15 beds. That makes it a total of 615 beds for attendants.
Not only limited beds, many shelter homes do not have sufficient blankets, no separate facilities for male and female attendants to sleep. People coming from far have to carry their own luggage to stay on the hospital premises under the open sky.
The team found 418 shelter home beds were occupied by attendants at KGMU. Very few of the people sleeping inside the shelter home were provided with blankets by the hospital. Most people carry their own blankets.
Prof KK Singh, spokesperson, KGMU, said that the hospital has sufficient beds in the different shelter homes across the campus. Security personnel had also been instructed that no attendant should be found sleeping outside the shelter home under the open sky. Also, patients coming from rural areas do not stay at the shelter home. They just want to stay outside the particular ward where the patient is getting treated, he said.
RMLIMS has the capacity of 108 shelter home beds on the main campus, including the hospital block, which are located near OPD 2, and behind the trauma surgery emergency. The team found that the number of beds was insufficient for attendants, but the shelter homes were completely equipped with mattresses and blankets provided by the hospital.
Assistant public relations officer, RMLIMS, Nimisha Sonkar, said that there are strict instructions to security personnel that no one should be found sleeping under the sky, she said.
Balrampur Hospital has just 51 beds in its two shelter homes. One, which is a two-storey building, has 10 beds on the ground floor and 11 beds on the first floor which were taken. The other, a 30-bed temporary shelter, made of tin, was also completely packed with attendants. It doesn’t even have a door at the entrance to protect attendants from chilly draught at night. Instead, a thick polythene sheet is tied on the gate. The team also found a temporary shelter home set up by an NGO in the parking area near the emergency of the hospital.
Balrampur Hospital director Dr Kavita Arya stated that “we have two shelter homes fully equipped with every facility. The security personnel will be instructed to not to allow anyone to sleep under the sky in the cold weather and in the parking area.
LBRNH just has 15 beds for the shelter home in total, in which eight separate beds for male and seven beds for females are available. The least number of shelter home beds are at LBRNH. However, it is fully equipped with blankets, mattresses, heaters and blowers.
Chief medical superintendent (CMS), LBRNH, Rajeev Dixit, said that district level hospitals offer attendants the facility to stay along with the patient and provide a bench to sleep in the ward too. This reduces the stay at the shelter home. If more than one attendant is with the patient only then shelter home beds come into use.
Civil Hospital which has 300 beds, has just 23 beds at its shelter home for attendants.The team found that people were using their own blankets, while the hospital administration provided only a few blankets. Civil Hospital director Dr Kajali Gupta said that due to the limited space in the hospital, “we do not have space for the expansion of the shelter home.”
