From medicines to morgue, patients at Gorakhpur hospital pay up for everything

In the eye of the storm after the death of over 60 children due to the disruption in supply of oxygen over the course of six days, Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College is now grappling with the shortage of medicines.

Despite the instructions of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to improve facilities at the hospital, many patients and their attendants can be seen rushing to private medical stores to purchase medicines.

Aniket, 8, was admitted to the intensive care unit after he was bitten by a snake on Sunday. His uncle Parasnath, a rickshaw-puller, had to buy medicines worth Rs 3,000 from the market as the hospital had ran out of drugs.

It was only after he arranged the drugs that injections were administered to the child. Aniket’s condition is now stable.

“I have spent Rs 3,000 on medicines. This is too much for a poor man like me,” Parasnath said, and added the doctors threatened him for reporting the matter to the media persons.

The attendants of Brijesh, 17, and Seema Gupta also purchased medicines from private stores.

“Doctors asked me to quickly get the drugs but they were not available at the hospital. I had to buy them from a private store,” said Durgesh, Brijesh’s uncle.

Some patients accused the doctors for asking attendants to buy drugs from private stores.

Superintendent in-charge Rama Shankar Shukla said, “There is no shortage of medicines. Fresh stock arrives daily as per the requirement.”

Even at the morgue of the hospital, attendants were seen spending money from their own pockets to get the post-mortem examinations conducted.

Hareesh Nishad said he was asked to arrange 5 metre cloth and 3 metre of plastic for the post-mortem of his nephew.

“The items will cost me Rs 300-Rs 500. The tempo driver who transported the body to the morgue will also charge Rs 300 and then another Rs 500 from here to the crematorium,” he said.