Srinagar, Mar 20: Despite being a referral healthcare centre, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Medical College Hospital at Bemina here has been without a round- the-clock Anesthesiologist and critical care physician from the past many months.
 The hospital also lacks the life saving equipments including CT Scan, emergency drugs and other manpower putting the lives of patients at risk. 
 Sources said the doctors call Anesthesiologist only after receiving the trauma cases in the hospital.
 “In the trauma cases, every second counts. If the patient is not given resuscitation immediately by the team of doctors, of which the Anesthesiologist is a vital part, the patient can die instantly,” sources said.
 They maintained that the Anesthetist was the backbone of procedures done on such cases and other surgeries conducted in any hospital. “After receiving the trauma case, the on call doctors take time to reach the hospital, and many times get stuck in the traffic mess causing unnecessary delays, putting the patients’ life in jeopardy. The Anesthesia department puts junior residents on duty who can’t give anesthesia to any patient and there was no senior resident available,” sources said adding all the consultants remain on call after 4 PM.
 “The round- the clock presence of anesthesiologist and critical care physician was must in the hospital as it is located on the highway. It is the first contact point of any accidental trauma case and absence of anesthesiologist can put the lives of patients at risk,” they said.
 They said lack of anesthesiologist has also adversely affected the surgical Departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Surgery and ENT.   
 “If the Medical Council of India conducts a surprise visit to the hospital, it can derecognize it for failing to conduct the cold (scheduled) surgeries,” sources said.
 They said the hospital also lacks CT Scan with trained radiologist— an essential component in dealing with trauma and other allied cases. “The doctors have to shift the patients to SKIMS, Soura for conducting the test before diagnosing the problem. The trauma patient can even die for want of the surgery during the shifting process.”
 Sources said the hospital also sans some emergency drugs and other important equipments. “The hospital is devoid of emergency resuscitation kit, ambo bag, intubations tube and has less baby warmers. Sometimes a patient has to get a syringe from the market as it is not-available in the hospital.”
 They said the administration deputes a single junior resident in the emergency department who is always overawed by the number of patients. “In contrast to the emergency department of GMC, which has separate medicine and surgery wing and has scores of doctors available, the junior resident here deals with all the cases coming to him irrespective of the nature of disease,” they said.
 Sources said the Radiology department is also manned by Junior Residents after the specialists leave in the evening. “There have been instances wherein the junior residents have expressed ignorance over the Ultrasound findings saying that it was not their job,” sources added.
 When contacted, the College Principal, Dr Mushtaq Ahmad said the Anesthesia department has been “weakened” following the exit of three consultants.
 “We have written to the Director Health Services Kashmir to provide us Anesthesiologists to overcome the problem and he has agreed. The CT Scan and other equipments including, orthoscope and C-arm will be procured soon,” he said.
 Dr Mushtaq said the Junior Resident posted in the emergency was continuously helped by the senior residents of the concerned departments. “The senior residents are readily available in the hospital premises. We will soon construct a separate medical and surgery emergency,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST