The News Craving
Special Report
You may have had come across instances of paramedics doubling up as doctors in rural hospitals. But in Kashmir’s biggest hospital of Government Medical College ( GMC) surgeries are being done inside the rooms that were build as kitchens for attendants of the patients. Besides some surgical procedures in ophthalmology, the Attendant Sarai here is also used to run out patient departments ( OPDs) of so-called super specialities of Plastic Surgery and Nepherology. Who benefits out of this: local hotels. No guesses who suffers: a poor Kashmiri and the government too. Government loses out a daily revenue of Rs 200 as room rent for each patient.
The mismanagement has ensured that Attendant Sarai which was build to provide rooms for poor patients was originally a 95-bed set up and it has now been reduced to some 16 beds with all other rooms let out to other departments. If this was not enough, bathrooms leaked and the Roads and Buildings Department was called to put out tenders: for over 3-months leaks are not getting repaired, said GMC officials.
According to hospital sources and attendants due to shortage of paid wards inside the hospital and the rooms inside the Attendant Sarai the poor people are at the receiving end. “The original idea of Attendant Sarai was that people from far off places can take care of their patients. That has been defeated after the space was given out to other departments,” said an official posted at the Sarai.
According to officials earlier some paid wards within the hospital were also used by doctors and paramedical staff due to increase in COVID cases from inside the hospital, but these wards have now been given out to patients as well. Medical Superintendent of SMHS hospital, Dr Kanwarjeet Singh, said that paid wards were being given to patients now while the Attendant Sarai has also “some rooms which are being used by patients.”” We have apprised the higher authorities asking them to shift the OPDs from Attendant Sarai,” said an official. He said that the OPDs are functioning from the Sarai since 2016 and the 95-bed capacity was opened for use in 2014.