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Kejriwal Wanted AIIMS-Like Revamp For Delhi Govt Hospitals
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week announced a “mega health expansion plan”, claiming that the capacity of Delhi government hospitals would increase by 120 per cent by 2023.
Nearly two years ago, Kejriwal had made another announcement — promising a slew of measures to improve the condition of Delhi government hospitals that had been described as “pathetic” by the Dialogue and Development Commission, an advisory body to his government.
The DDC had studied the centre-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital to make recommendations about reducing overcrowding and improving public experience, developing a modern health management system, computerisation and a host of other measures. But none of the recommendations has been implemented yet, and the people at these hospitals continue to suffer.
The DDC report, accessed by ThePrint, was based on a survey conducted over two months. Its team visited three Delhi government hospitals — G.B. Pant Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER), the LNJP Hospital and the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) — as well as AIIMS, Safdarjung and the privately-run Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The survey focused on new patients’ registration in OPD, follow-up appointments in OPD, in-patient registrations, pharmacy counters and lab & radiology counters. What it found was found long queues, inordinate waiting time for patients, mismanagement and inefficiency.
It stated that “there was disarray and mismanagement and resultant patient dissatisfaction” at the Delhi government hospitals, and that “urgent reforms and actions are required to ameliorate the situation”.
GIPMER has a daily OPD footfall of around 8,000 patients, while at LNJP, the number is 9,000. In both hospitals, this leads to chaotic scenes. According to the report, “given the rising population of Delhi and the steady increase in the number of patients from neighbouring states, Delhi government hospitals will see on an average a 10 per cent increase in patients’ foot fall every year. This will make matters worse”.
When ThePrint visited GIPMER to see the state of affairs, a 56-year woman named Lalita from Jangpura said, “The CM has done a lot for Delhi, but something needs to be done about these queues in hospitals. I’m getting old standing here, and it is very difficult when one is unwell.”
It was a similar situation at LNJP Hospital.
Anwar, a resident of south Delhi’s Lado Sarai, who had come to LNJP in central Delhi for his wife’s check-up, said, “Whenever we have to come, it has to be early in the morning, or we don’t find a place in the queue.”
Ironically, the report had mentioned Anwar’s locality, Lado Sarai, to make a point about patients visiting smaller nearby hospitals rather than crowding the big hospitals.
“For instance, a patient with orthopaedic condition living in Lado Sarai need not rush to LNJP hospital to consult an orthopaedic doctor. The call centre can help him locate this service closer to his neighbourhood such as Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital. This will help to address the issue of underutilisation of smaller hospitals and the disproportionate rush at big hospitals,” the DDC report stated.
The corridors of LNJP serve many purposes — with people waiting, sitting, sleeping and eating there. When asked, on the condition of anonymity, one person told ThePrint, “We came from Uttar Pradesh for my wife’s treatment. Now we don’t have money to stay and keep the treatment going. This hospital also does not have any waiting area. So we have to live here. We manage to stay here by requesting the guards because they understand our plight.”
At the LNJP pharmacy, it was a similar scene, with several people waiting in lines to get medicine. While the Delhi government’s free medicine scheme is popular, it has also given rise to chaos as there is mismanagement in its implementation.
“We come to the hospital around 7am. First, we deal with huge queues in the OPD registration. Then we wait for our turn for check-up, and then we have to wait for at least 1-1.5 hours to get the medicine from the counters. You have to keep standing the whole time. It’s exhausting,” said a man who’d been waiting since morning. – ThePrint
