Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 24: In a glaring example of medical negligence in the Valley’s lone Bone and Joint Hospital in Barzulla here sweepers and helpers can be seen performing the duties of paramedics.
A video in possession of the Daily Excelsior clearly shows a sweeper changing the bandage of a patient whose leg has to undergo surgery for the third time in last two years. When Excelsior approached the patient, who hails from North Kashmir’s Handwara Town, he said that the sweeper has several times changed his bandages as the available paramedics were allegedly shying away from their job.
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“The doctors prescribed to apply a bandage on the broken leg of my brother. But when I approached the available paramedics they assigned the job to a sweeper. Fearing trouble we could not resist,” brother of the patient said, adding they had traveled some 70 kilometers for the quality medicare but were unsatisfied with the quality.
In one video a sweeper is seen cleaning the wards of the hospital while as the same person wearing an apron and a cap is seen treating a patient in another video.
The attendant said that two nurses and a guy, wearing a white apron, were sitting idle in the restroom when he approached them. However, they sent a sweeper with him for the treatment, “The sweepers put on a blue apron and a skull cap and came with me to change the bandage,” he said, adding he was baffled but could not muster courage to resist.
Another attendant said that during their 25-day stay in the hospital last month they have frequently witnessed such acts. “Anyone can treat a patient here; sweepers, helpers or anyone who is associated with the hospital in some or the other way,” he said, adding he has seen a sweeper administering injections in the hospital.
Insiders in the hospital said that doctors often use the services of a sweeper who has been working in the hospital for several years. “He is a master at plastering patients and doctors often use his services. He is better than some of the qualified doctors,” an official said.
Medical Superinte-ndent, T A Badoo, when contacted said such incident has not come to his notice and a sweeper is not authorized to attend the patients. “We have plenty of trained staff available for the job and such issues have not come to me,” he said, adding patients should resist such practices and report to him or the available medical officers.
He said that it was true that they have a sweeper who can apply better plaster than many expert but that does authorize him for the job. “He has the hands of an expert but it cannot make him one,” he said.
He, however, feigned ignorance about the video. “I have not seen the video and will take action after verifying the video”, he said.
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