Hunting for stretchers a problem KGMU trauma centre

Saddam brought his uncle, who had fractured his right leg, to the trauma centre in King George’s Medical University after he was referred by doctors in Amethi district.

But what happened right from the entrance till he reached the doctor left a bad taste in his mouth.

“It took me 15 minutes to search for and grab a stretcher. And then some more time was spent before we reached the exact doctor who prescribed initial tests,” said Saddam, who had his first visit to the trauma centre with his injured uncle.

Like Saddam, there are scores of other patients who face similar problems when they reach the trauma centre. Those who know doctors or have connections easily get the facility but the common man has to wait at every stage – getting a stretcher, the first check-up, getting diagnostic tests done and last but most important, getting a bed if the doctor advises admission.

“There are stretchers in the trauma centre but not enough and when you look for one you don’t find them. Stretchers are either engaged with some patient outside X-ray and CT scan section or are damaged and not usable,” said another attendant. Another problem is that there is no one to guide patients to the correct person or department and most of them wander on the campus when referred to some ward.

Officials say there are enough stretchers and also people deployed to assist patients. “A big problem is patients, when referred to another ward on the campus, move on stretchers but never return them to the trauma centre. Hence if 20 patients are referred in a day an equal number of stretchers will go missing from the trauma centre, thereby reducing their availability for other patients,” said Prof SN Sankhwar, the chief medical superintendent.

He said that more stretchers were purchased and kept at the entrance of the trauma centre but with continuous shifting their numbers fell short. “Two persons have been deployed particularly to search for and bring back stretchers but even this has failed to maintain their number,” he said.

First Published: Sep 03, 2019 10:20 IST