Hyderabad, March 01:: Vital life-saving medical services for patients at Emergency Medical Department (EMD) of Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) continues to remain in a mess. Patients needing emergency care are frequently denied admissions on a host of grounds, most glaring of them being lack of beds.
“Beds and trolleys are not available. If you want diagnostic services, then wait for seven to eight hours for results. If there are no beds, patients have to adjust on trolleys,” is a common refrain from medical personnel at EMD. The ongoing strike of resident doctors has only compounded the situation, as medical services at outpatient and inpatient wards have taken a hit.
“My son needed urgent surgery to set his leg. Despite a trauma case, they did not admit and asked us to try Gandhi Hospital. There was no proper communication and we were treated as undesirables,” complains Md. Afroz, whose son is now admitted to Gandhi Hospital at orthopaedic ward.
The inflow of patients to EMD hovers between 70 and 75 patients per day while the total bed strength is only 40 with an additional 10 trolleys. The EMD does not have an exclusive diagnostic laboratory leading to seven to eight hours of delay to get the necessary tests done.
Steady flow
“Doctors can’t start treatment unless they get investigation reports. Till then patients are given basic preliminary medication. Most of the cases are referrals from RTC, ESI, CGHS and even railways and that’s why there is a steady patient inflow at EMD throughout the day,” a NIMS doctor informs.
Attendants of patients frequently complain about lack of nurses to take care of patients. “We seldom see nurses here. Doctors usually ask attendants to be with the patient because of lack of nurses,” says Anish Kumar, whose son, a trauma victim, was admitted to the EMD.
At any given time of the day, the NIMS EMD has four to six nurses to take care of 50 to 60 emergency patients. Similarly, there are only four casualty medical officers (CMO) at hand to manage the bustling EMD of NIMS.
–Agencies