Panchu and his wife Lilawati are sitting under a tree inside the Sector 10 Civil Hospital premises on a hot Wednesday afternoon. The elderly couple is in distress and anxiously awaiting the woman’s blood test report.
An abdomen ache has been troubling 56-year-old Lilawati for nearly a week now.
But, she will have to wait for one more week before she can get an ultrasound scan, which is scheduled for October 25.
Panchu is a housekeeping employee in a private firm and earns ₹300-₹400 per day. He cannot afford the scan in a private hospital. “We have no choice, but to wait,” says Panchu.
Sitting nearby is Bablu, who is suffering from tuberculosis-like symptoms. “I came here on Tuesday, but there was a long queue at the blood sample collection counter and I got turned away. The samples are collected only till 11 a.m. and many people have to return every day,” says Bablu, who works at a moulding unit in Udyog Vihar Phase IV.
Once he gets the blood sample report, he will have to get a CT scan done at the old hospital building near the bus stand. “The CT scan is done in a building nearly 10 km from here. I will take leave tomorrow [Sunday] again and go there. It takes 3-4 days for a simple treatment. Poor people cannot afford to take so many leaves from work,” he says.
‘Five days for dengue report’
Nanak Yadav, a plumber, has been here since 6 a.m. — almost two hours before his appointment time. He wanted to ensure that he gets all the examinations done in a single visit.
“I have come to the hospital many times over the years. You never get all the prescribed medicines inside the hospital,” complains Mr. Yadav.
Another visitor, Darshan, says nothing has changed in civil hospitals: “I got my son Manoj’s dengue report only after five days.”
Dilwar Ali, who has come to the hospital for the third time for his wife’s treatment, says they live in Sector 65 and the private auto charges ₹150 one way.
Though the health crisis in the wake of COVID-19 has forced the government to augment health infrastructure in the district, many of the measures have been arranged on a temporary basis to deal with the situation at hand such as hiring of ambulances and lab technicians. But little seems to have changed for the poor patients thronging civil hospitals.
Principal Medical Officer at Civil Hospital Deepa Sindhu says nothing much has changed for the 100-bed hospital catering to a population of 15 lakh, as per the 2011 census. “In terms of new infrastructure, three RT-PCR labs have been set up. Besides COVID-19 tests, these can be used for H1N1 tests,” says Dr. Sindhu.
Despite the space crunch, hospital authorities were forced to cram in 45 more beds to deal with the rush. Soon, 25 more beds will be added for a separate Dengue ward.
Forced to share bed
The hospital records an average 500-700 deliveries per month, catering mostly to migrants. The expectant mothers and their attendants complain that 2-3 women are forced to share a bed inside the labour room.
Dr. Sindhu denies the allegations. “The shortage of employees has led to long waiting time for ultrasound scans with the priority being pregnant women. We hope to conduct the scans in two shifts soon to handle the rush. Also, we have created space for the CT scan machine to be shifted to this hospital. It will also be done,” she adds.
Administrative approval for a six-bed ICU building has been received and an up-gradation plan to add 100 more beds is in the pipeline. The government also plans to set up a 500-bed hospital at the site of the old Civil Hospital. All such projects may get delayed due to a financial crunch due to the lockdown and COVID-19 being a priority.
Civil Surgeon (Gurugram) Virender Yadav maintains that the health infrastructure had got an impetus with the appointments of doctors, lab technicians, data entry operators, and setting up of labs and addition of ICU beds.
“Many of these things will stay even after the pandemic is over. Though lab technicians are hired temporarily, the doctors are appointed regularly. The 44 doctors hired have been deployed in PHCs in Sohna and Pataudi. Similarly, 21 ICU beds and ten ventilators have been added to government hospitals,” says Mr. Yadav.
Though five ambulances have also been added to the fleet, the Nodal officer of the referral transport system, N.P. Singh, says that two of them have been brought from Nuh and another two were donated by the district administration. “We had hired a few private ambulances temporarily when home isolation was not allowed,” says Dr. Singh.