E-Paper
Official apathy after corrective surgery
THE officials of Health Department and Vikalang Kalyan Vibhag are apathetic towards patients who are discharged from the hospital after the corrective surgery.
THE officials of Health Department and Vikalang Kalyan Vibhag are apathetic towards patients who are discharged from the hospital after the corrective surgery.
On January 19 and 20, both the Viklang Kalyan Vibhag and Health Department operated on several polio-inflicted persons at the UHM hospital which does not have any physiotherapy unit.
About 13 patients were operated on their legs by doctors from Kolkata and the King Georges Medical University, Lucknow, at the hospital. On February 6, all the patients expected to turn up at the hospital to get the calipers provided by Alimco.
However, none of the doctors of the hospital was keen to know whether the patients had any post-operational problems or the calipers given to them were useful to them.
The kin of such patients said that they did not get any medical aid after the surgery. Till date, neither the patients nor their kin knew if the operation was successful. Besides, the officials of both departments failed to distribute calipers to 13 patients. Only four patients, on their own, turned up at the hospital to collect their calipers.
Talking to the Hindustan Times, one of the patients, Shailendra Kushwaha (23), resident of Raipur in Kanpur Dehat, said, “After the operation, I was left to the mercy of God.
None of the officials bothered to check whether the condition of my operated leg is improving or not. I made nearly 15 phone calls to Viklang Kalyan Vibhag officials. Then, I was told to come to the hospital on March 6. Here, doctors are not taking any interest in us.”
Laxmi Tewari (13), Ruby (11) and Gudiya (10), also portrayed the apathetic attitude of both the departments towards them, after the operation. Ruby’s mother Shyama Devi said “The caliper provided to my daughter is useless as her operated leg does not fit into it, but there is none to liste to me.:
Viklang Kalyan Vibhag organises camps where polio-inflicted persons suitable for corrective surgery are registered. The funds for such operation are given to the Vikalang Kalyan Vibhag by the district magistrate who transfers the money to the administrative head of the hospital where such operations are conducted.
Lamenting the attitude of the health department, Akhilendra Kumar, Deputy Director of the Viklang Kalyan Vibhag Lucknow, said, “The low turnout of the persons for collection of caliper has resulted from lack of communication on the part of the officials. Besides, none of the orthopedic surgeon is keen to see the condition of the patients.”
