Space crunch continues to hit patient care at MCCH Anantnag

Anantnag: In the lone maternity and childcare hospital of south Kashmir, the pregnant women and newborns are being exposed to life-threatening diseases for want of adequate space.

A medico said that the maternity section was only 40 bedded, however, it always remains overcrowded with even two to three patients sharing a single bed at times.

   

“The beds have even been put in the corridor even,” he said.

Another medico said that the doctors in the facility which was under the administrative control of Government Medical College (GMC), Anantnag, were forced to refer patients which could be easily treated here, to Srinagar hospitals.

“This further burdens tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar even as there is no shortage of gynecologists and obstetricians here,” he said.

The medico said that due to lack of hygiene in theatre and wards, the chances of cross infection among the patients remains high.

The hospital has hogged the headline for deaths of expecting mothers.

“It would not have happened had the hospital been well equipped,” the medico said.

A senior doctor said that the pediatric section remains the worst hit despite the availability of specialists including a neonatologist.

“The section is crammed in a few small rooms and there is not even a proper place for doctors to sit forget equipping it with machinery,” he said.

The doctor said that due to lack of ample space it was not possible to admit sick children either in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

“Beds have been placed so closely in the IPD that chances of infection remain high,” he said. “The washrooms located nearby always stink.”

The MCCH is presently housed in an old, dilapidated and unsafe building in the congested Sherbagh locality of the old town.

The facility was declared unsafe by the Fire and Emergency Department a decade ago.

It gets more than 40,000 patients in the Out-Patient Department (OPD) and about 7000 indoor patients on a monthly basis.

The shifting of the MCCH to Rehmati Alam Hospital constructed at the cost of Rs 13 crore by JKPCC was put on hold after the IIT Jammu declared already existing first two floors of the building unsafe.

The GMC Anantnag authorities have now proposed another 200 bedded hospital building at the same site.

Principal GMC Anantnag, Dr Tariq Qureshi admitted the lack of proper space is hitting the patient care in MCCH and assured that the facility would be shifted to GMC main hospital soon.

“Yes, it is difficult for the hospital to operate in that space. So, for now, we have decided to shift it to the GMC Anantnag Hospital at Janglat Mandi,” Dr Qureshi said.

He said both the maternity and pediatric sections of the hospital would be adjusted in the first two floors of the under-construction B Block of the hospital.

“In a month or two, we will be shifting the hospital to that building,” Dr Qureshi said.

He said that they had also submitted a Detailed Project Report ( DPR) for the construction of a new 200-bedded maternity and child hospital at Rehmat-e-Alam Hospital premises.

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