The Tiruchi Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital has opened an exclusive ward for destitute patients.
Collector S. Sivarasu inaugurated the 20-bed ward on Wednesday. Patients with no relatives or caretakers, victims of accidents and trauma with no next-of-kin and patients who have been abandoned will be looked after at this ward.
A public interest litigation was filed by a Tiruchi-based student, hearing which, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had ordered notice to the State on a direction to the government to establish special wards for treating abandoned and destitute people at all government medical college hospitals. ‘We had planned to set up such a ward for a while. Following this direction, we decided to do it full-fledged,’ Dean K. Vanitha said.
The hospital received many patients who while undergoing treatment told doctors that they had nowhere to go. At the ward, the patients would be bathed, cleaned up, given clothes and given other basic utilities till they recover. ‘We have spoken to the District Social Welfare Officer to ensure that they are rehabilitated after their discharge from the hospital,’ she said. The initiative would help bring together the work done by the police, health and social welfare departments, she added. A team of nurses, and two doctors, on rotation, have been deputed to the ward. In case of serious ailments, the patients would be shifted to the specific departments at the MGMGH.
She said provision of basic needs of the patients would be done through donations. ‘We will arrange for food at the hospital. Clothes, toiletries and other necessities, we will accept from donors,’ she said.
