Bhopal: Out Patient Department (OPD) numbers was halved and planned surgeries did not even reached double digit on the second day of junior doctors’ strike in Hamidia Hospital. OPD’s number were 1889 against the average OPD of 2500 per day for the hospital, while just 64-patients were admitted against the normal average of over 120 per day, on Tuesday.
Resident doctors and faculties were pressed into job to handle the situation. Paramedical, technicians and staff nurses, besides junior doctors remained off duty paralyzing the health services at the hospital. A man was seen pulling stretched in which his ailing his octogenarian father lied in pain.
Hamid Khan, a patient suffering from renal failure and was discharged in the evening, he left the hospital holding a portable oxygen pump, which keeps him alive. Meanwhile, instances of delay in treatment and medical assistance were galore at the hospital. Rakesh Singh, who came all the way from Sagar, was scheduled to get another dose of oncology intervention on the day. “A break in treatment is not something I would take a chance with. I have been waiting since morning. The consultant is on round looking after admitted patients. I might have to wait for few days in Bhopal,” said Singh.
Mamta, wife of the patient alleged that despite of having the BPL card her husband was not attended to. “The attendant demanded money for treatment. If we had to pay money for treatment, why would we come to Hamidia hospital,” she rued. “Nobody paid attention in our case,“ said a patient, Suresh Kumar. BPL card beneficiaries get free medicare.