Srinagar, Apr 22: Despite passing of more than a month, the authorities at SK Institute of Medical Sciences Medical College Hospital at Bemina are yet to resume the cold (scheduled) surgeries.
 The patients arriving from remote corners of the Valley, scheduled to be operated upon for various ailments on particular dates in the hospital, are being asked to return homes by the administration.
 Sources in the City hospital reveal that the administration had failed to resolve the issue regarding shortage of anesthetists which on March 16 forced them to stop the scheduled surgeries.
 The administration issued an order No: SKIMS MCH/84/2011/625-32, a copy of which is lying with Greater Kashmir, which reads: “Today on March 16, 2011, a meeting was convened in the office chamber of principal under his chairmanship in which Heads of Departments of Anesthesiology, Orthopedics, Gynecologist and Obstetrician, ENT and General Surgery wherein it was decided that keeping paucity of anesthetists in view, all cold surgeries are stopped and only emergency surgeries including Obstetrician emergencies shall be taken care of in the interest of patient care.”
 Sources said the patients were getting desperate and in turn forced to visit private nursing homes for conducting procedures of their ailments. “The patients having due dates for surgeries during these days have already waited for long for their turn and have been bearing the pain for their ailment. With hospital authorities asking them to return homes and wait, they have been forced to visit privately run nursing homes for surgeries,” sources said, adding the poor patients had to shelve out huge amount of money in the private institutions for the procedure and subsequent post-operative care.
 They said the medical college hospital was failing to serve the purpose. 
 According to them, the surgeons in different departments, on an average, perform 20 surgeries a day.
 “The cold surgeries have been stopped for more than one month which implies that 600 patients have returned without being operated upon,” sources said. 
 They said, doctors time and again, apprised the hospital administration about the dearth of anesthetists, but they turned deaf ears to the repeated pleas. “Due to the resignation of some anesthetists, the whole system got collapsed,” sources added.
 “If the Medical Council of India conducts a surprise visit to the hospital, it can derecognize it for failing to conduct the cold surgeries,” they said.
 Pertinently the hospital administration after stopping the cold surgeries shifted the pregnant women to another maternity hospital for delivery in March, which caused huge inconvenience to the expecting mothers and their attendants.
 When contacted, Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Nazir Ahmad said: “Some limited number of cold surgeries are going on and we are on hunt for anesthetists.”

Lastupdate on : Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST