Srinagar, Apr 28: Lal Ded Hospital, the sole maternity hospital in Kashmir has a capacity of 500 beds. But the beds often remain overcrowded as the number of admitted patients exceeds to almost double the bed capacity.  Apart from labor room and operation theatre, each bed in the wards is often occupied by two to three patients.
 A hospital employee pleading anonymity said “You can yourself guess how much torment a cesarean convalescent might undergo when she has to share uncomfortably little space in bed with some other patient.”
 Though hundreds of new hospitals have been built up at district and sub-district levels during the last one decade, on the ground, it seems that the government never enforced referral system at the district hospitals so that only exceptional cases would be sent to Lal Ded.
  Deputy Medical Superintendent of Lal Ded hospital, Dr Nazir H Chowdhary  said that even less serious patients who could get complete medical care at sub-district and district hospitals get admitted at LD due to lack of referral system.
  “If strict referral system had been in place we would normally get only 1/3rd or less number of patients admitted than what we get,” he added.
 Chowdhary said that by getting less number of patients the doctors would be able to pay more attention to each patient and peoples’ complaints about overcrowding will also end.    
 A new 180 bedded wing is being added to the hospital on which work is in progress, but observers widely believe that this addition alone will not lessen the overcrowding in the hospital.
 “The overcrowding in L.D. hospital will persist unless the state government puts in place proper referral system in all hospitals across Kashmir region,” said a retired medico requesting not to be named.  

Lastupdate on : Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST