Manzoor Makhdoomi
SRINAGAR, May 24: Excessive patient admissions in Kashmir valley’s lone tertiary maternity hospital, Lal Ded Memorial Hospital, is adversely affecting the quality of its medicare services and putting at tremendous unease the patients, attendants, medical staff, police and the hospital administration.
Two to three patients jostling for space in a rickety single bed, that is barely comfortable for one patient, is a common sight in this hospital. When Rifat Jabeen of Qalamabad, North Kashmir was expecting her first child and admitted in the hospital, she had a nightmarish experience.
“I could not turn my body or move my legs as we were three patients stuffed on a single bed”, Rifat said. She said on her next expectancy she chose a private maternity centre even though her husband had to pay hefty sum of money as fees.
Not everyone can afford costly treatment at private maternity centres. So the only choice left for majority of low income families is either to admit their patient at Sub District Hospitals and district hospitals across Kashmir valley or Lal Ded hospital in Srinagar.
“But majority of families prefer L.D. hospital to Sub District and District Hospitals. They fear that their patient won’t get proper treatment in those hospitals even though, in truth, these hospitals are well equipped to handle many maternity cases that arrive at L.D. Hospital”, said a doctor on condition of anonymity.
The doctors said that patients from far flung areas like Kupwara, Pulwama and Baramulla with no need for tertiary medical care come here even though they have sub district hospitals with well equipped and trained staff to treat these types of cases.
“Tertiary L.D. hospital is meant only to handle high risk cases like antepartum, hemorrhage, pregnancy induced hypertension, severe anaemia and pregnancy with any mass”, a Registrar at the hospital said, adding that, if low risk cases stop coming there, much of the problems of L.D. Hospital will be solved and medical staff and administration will be freed to concentrate on improving the quality of services instead.
“Just few days back, more than 800 patients visited the OPD section of L.D. Hospital alone. In the recent past this is the highest number of patient arrivals in this section”, said Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr. Farah Shafi.
Dr Farah said that attendants of patients with low risk ailments usually come with fictitious stories about not getting admission in sub district hospitals because beds were already occupied to full capacity there. “If we deny them admission they will attack us”, she said.
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