Angul: Patients alleged that the stretchers, wheelchairs and lifts at the district headquarters hospital in Angul are not in working condition.
They complained that even normal facilities are being denied to patients despite crores of spending in the name of strengthening the infrastructure at the hospital.
Hundreds of patients come to the Angul DHH from within and outside the district daily and most of them are critically injured in road accidents.
The hospital has a capacity to treat 400 patients, however it receives more footfall on a regular basis.
The patients complain about the logistics and that they suffer a lot after reaching the hospital.
The critically injured patients have to experience tough time here, some of them pointed out.
There are three stretchers to take patients from ambulances or other vehicles to the casualty. But not even one is in working condition, they said. While one stretcher has been thrown into a corner of the hospital, the remaining two are damaged.
“We heard a lot about the facilities at the Angul DHH but when we saw the condition of the hospital ourselves, we feel the DHH status is misleading,” said the relative of a patient, who is from outside Angul district.
Finding no other way, sometimes the people are forced to use damaged stretchers. Even the staff in charge of stretchers is irked by the regular complaints they receive.
Similarly, it is said that the casualty has four wheelchairs. But not even a single wheelchair is available in times of need.
In such cases, people are seen carrying and dragging the inpatient to casualty and wards.
“Scene of carrying patients is not new here. Doctors and officers are also coming across such things. But none of them has ever wished to know why patients are being carried in hands,” some patients pointed out.
The patients coming to the obstetrics and gynaecology department suffer the most.
It has two lifts but one of them is out of order quite often.
According to social activist Pratap Moahapatra, mechanics spend most of the time repairing the lifts however it cannot carry people even after year long repair works.
When asked, Chief District Medical Officer Dr Amarendranath Mahanty pleaded his ignorance and advised to contact the ADMO.
With the ADMO on leave, pediatric Dr Pratap Kumar Behera, who was in charge of ADMO, said that everything would be intimated to the ADMO once he is back.
PNN