At new OPD block at PGIMER . (Express Photo)
The government health facilities, including Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), in Chandigarh saw 68.80 lakh out patient department (OPD) patients for the last financial year, a report compiled by the Chandigarh health department has revealed. Chandigarh is already seeing a huge rush of patients, with most of them coming from the nearby states. Doctors maintain that the unnecessary referrals and patients coming directly to Chandigarh are adding a burden to the health facilities in the city.
The UT health department has collected data from all the hospitals and civil dispensaries which are run by the Chandigarh Administration. In the OPD data, both new and old cases have been counted. As per the report, out of 68.80 lakh OPD patients, the highest number of patients visited the health facilities run by the Chandigarh health department, which was 32.51 lakh. The north Indian premier medical hub saw 27.25 lakh OPD patients. The GMCH in Sector 32, which is also burdened with patients, has seen around 6.8 lakh patients in the OPD.
Chandigarh-based doctors say that maximum patients are coming from outside Chandigarh. “The Tricity has an estimated population of 25 lakh. The number of OPD registration is huge in Chandigarh because patients are not visiting the facilities which are in other states. The number 68 lakh is huge,” said a senior doctor from PGI department of internal medicine.
“At present, we are seeing a huge number of patients mostly coming from the nearby states. There is an urgent need that health facilities available in the nearby states are strengthened,” Dr Ravi Gupta, medical superintendent, GMCH, told Chandigarh Newsline. The GMCH records show that around 50 per cent of the patients visiting the hospital are from neighbouring states.
According to the UT report, in 2015-16, the total number of OPD patients was 59.41 lakh which increased to 66.3 lakh in 2016-17. The report shows that for the period 2017-18, 29,208 deliveries were conducted in the facilities located in Chandigarh. The highest number of deliveries were conducted at GMSH-16 (8,937), followed by GMCH-32 (7,234) and PGI (5,807). The remaining deliveries were conducted at other hospitals run by the UT Administration.
The report has mentioned the indoor patients as well. It says that 2.39 lakh patients were admitted for the period 2017-18. Of the total patients, the highest number of patients was admitted to PGI (96,553), followed by the hospitals run by the Chandigarh health department (80,079). GMCH admitted 58,423 patients. The report has also provided details about the C-sectional deliveries conducted in Chandigarh. A total of 9,413 C-sectional deliveries were conducted in the health facilities, including 2061 in PGI.