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Denied trolley and bed, patient lugged on bedsheet to OPD in Patna’s super-specialty IGIMS
An insensitive administrative order and shortage of trollies force relatives to lug patients on bedsheet from dormitory to outdoor patient departments for consultation at IGIMS.
A patient, with pelvic fracture and injury to urethra and rectum, had to be lugged for outdoor consultation on a bedsheet due to shortage of trolley at the super-specialty Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna on Wednesday.
Mahesh Kumar, 22, a resident of Begusarai, was denied a trolley to cart him from the first floor of the institute dormitory to the trauma and emergency wing - a distance of nearly 150 metres - reflecting poorly on Bihar’s healthcare.
Reason - The institute has instructed its trolley staff not to wheel trollies to its dormitory after it recently lost 3-5 trollies.
The institute’s decision has left Mahesh’s relatives and many others like him staying at the dormitory, with no option but to lug their patients on bedsheet for consultation.
Hindustan Times tracked Mahesh and has a video footage of his relatives engaging in a verbal spat with institute security staff over trolley and then lugging him on a bedsheet.
“Mahesh’s medical condition is such that he requires to shuttle between three departments - orthopaedics, gastro-intestinal surgery and urology,” said a senior doctor requesting anonymity.
Mahesh had met with a road traffic accident and was rushed to the IGIMS on July 17. He has since not been allotted a bed, forcing him and his relatives to stay at the dormitory.
“Every time we bring Mahesh for consultation, we have to lug him on a bedsheet from the dormitory because we are not allowed to use trolleys,” said Rajesh Rai, his brother-in-law.
IGIMS medical superintendent Dr Prabhat Kumar Sinha was candid enough to accept that the institute had overlooked the possibility of patients having to stay at the dormitory while waiting for allotment of beds. “Thanks for bringing it to our notice. We will issue fresh orders tomorrow.”
Additional superintendent Dr Sanjay Kumar said, “We will review the stock of our trollies. Of the 50 trollies with us, 25-30 are functional. Besides we have 25 trolley men, of which 18 are available at any given point of time.”
The average daily OPD patient footfall at the institute is between 2400 and 2800. With another 650 beds for in-patients, the institute is woefully short of trollies and support staff to man them.
