Campaign in Bhojpur for Public Health & Hospitals
Under their public health campaign, a CPIML-AISA-RYA team inspected various wards, blood banks, testing centres etc at Sadar Hospital, Ara for 6 consecutive days.
The purpose of this hospital inspection was that the government should increase the basic facilities in government hospitals and increase the health budget so that all the poor can get treatment in government hospitals instead of having to go to private clinics.
Today, half of public income is going to medicine and the other half to inflation. If all facilities were available in government hospitals, people would be able to use a portion of their income for children’s education, farming and other purposes.
The government is slowly taking government hospitals towards privatization, an example of this being the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model. From cleanliness and hygiene to medical equipment, X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, food arrangements for patients, etc, everything is in the hands of private institutions and contractors.
Appealing to the people to save government hospitals, the team said that AISA-RYA will run a campaign among students, youth and the general public to improve conditions in government hospitals.
Bihar State Health Minister Mangal Pandey is in-charge of Ara District. Ara MLA Amarendra Prasad Singh has held this seat many times and he is also a Minister in the government but he is least bothered about hospitals in Ara. MP from Ara Shri RK Singh is a Central Minister; there are 3 Ministers from the District, and yet the condition of hospitals in the District is miserable. The people in power have no concern for the life and welfare of the people.
On the first day of the public health campaign the CPIML-AISA-RYA team inspected general wards and found that there is no gynaecological operation theatre in the ward and Caesarean deliveries are performed instead in the operation theatre of the general ward. There is no separate bed for mother and child in the maternity ward after delivery and there is no arrangement for attendants either. There is a small delivery ward with 6 beds where minor operations are performed. Often during operations, electricity goes off during stitching up of the wound and other crucial moments, and there is no arrangement for electricity backup arrangement. The condition of toilets is pathetic and full of filth.
There are 4 rooms in the public representative ward. As there is no doctors’ room, one room in the public representative ward has been reserved for a male doctor, one for a female doctor and one room for the hospital manager. Thus only one room out of four is available for the patient and that too after a lot of lobbying, after paying a thousand rupees for 8 days for which no receipt is given. No rule or law is followed regarding under which rule patients are examined in this ward.
On the second day of inspection, the team inspected the emergency ward and TB centre. There is no operation theater in the emergency ward which has only 15 beds; whereas, considering the number of patients, there should be at least 50 beds. All required medicines are not available in the Emergency ward. On-call duty doctors in Emergency are not able to provide the services required of them.
The TB building is ramshackle and dilapidated and is an open invitation for accidents. There is water stagnation all around the building. The condition of the toilets is appalling and full of filth.
On the third day of the public health campaign the RYA-AISA team arrived at the Ara Primary Health Centre for inspection. The BCM as well as 3 doctors were missing from duty in the hospital. The Medical in-charge often comes late for duty. Only 5 doctors are posted against 6 sanctioned posts for doctors. There is no pharmacist or dresser in the hospital. There is a shortage of doctors and medical workers as per standard requirements. Three doctors are supposed to be in OPD, but only one was found present. The hospital does not have digital x-ray, ultrasound, ECG, bone plastering, blood and urine test facilities. There is a shortage of medicines in OPD and IPD as per standard requirements. Only 52 medicines out of 102 are available. Basic cold, cough and fever medicines are also not available. There are only 6 oxygen cylinders, out of which only 3 were filled. The one available ambulance is quite dilapidated, and the oxygen cylinder and machine in the ambulance are faulty.
The Primary Health Centre building is also quite dilapidated. There is need for expansion of the building; due to lack of building space, only 5 beds are available instead of 6 beds. There is no separate arrangement for Covid patients and no Covid kits are given. Serious patients are referred to the District Hospital.
On the 4th day of the campaign the AISA-RYA team visited the Covid ward and Children’s ward at Sadar Hospital. They found that there is no unit of medical personnel for running the ICU, and neither is there an intensive care system. The ICU in the hospital is not operational either for Covid patients or for emergency patients. 6 ventilators had come for treatment of Covid patients. As they could not be operated, 2 ventilators were sent to Nalanda. The other 4 ventilators are lying as mere showpieces. There is no medical personnel unit or intensive care system for operation of the ventilators Due to this, the hospital has not been able to get the Dedicated Covid Hospital status. Hundreds of lives were lost during the 2nd Covid wave due to non-operation of ventilators; yet the government remains a mute spectator. So far, 40 oxygen beds are ready for Covid patients and preparations are being made for 30 more, but there are no ICU or ventilator facilities. Even after the loss of so many lives in the 2nd wave, the government and administration remain careless. Many essential Covid tests are unavailable, such as Peripheral Blood Smear Test, Serum Creatinin Test, LDH etc.
There is a shortage of medicines in OPD and IPD as per standard requirements. Only 52 medicines out of 102 are available. Basic cold, cough and fever medicines are also not available. There are only 6 oxygen cylinders, out of which only 3 were filled.
On the fifth day of the campaign, the AISA-RYA team arrived to inspect the testing centre, Orthopaedic, Eye, and Dental Departments and General OT of the Sadar Hospital. The team found that tests are done on contract at the Sadar Hospital, whereas they should be free.
In the case of a bullet injury of a patient in Sadar Hospital the surgery could be done at a private clinic. Due to lack of operation theatre and medical equipment, people have to go to private hospitals. The poor are forced to spend their meager incomes over private hospitals. If Sadar Hospital had these facilities, they would use that money for children's education, agriculture etc.
There is no OT for eye operations; nor is there doctor-medical worker unit for such cases. In fact, there have not been any ENT doctors for many years now.
During the fact-finding investigation, the team found that money is taken from the patients for every test, and the test centre is run on contract (public private partnership). Digital x-ray, CT scan, and blood bank facilities do not work 24x7.
Eye, ear, and dental operations are not done here and there is no operation theatre for such procedures. Dental treatment machines are mere showpieces. Ultrasound facility is available only for delivery patients; even for them, whole-abdomen ultrasound is not available. Dialysis is also done by contract; free facility is available only for ration card holders. The General OT has no OT light and there is a shortage of medical equipment.
On the sixth day the team inspected the blood bank, and cleanliness and hygiene arrangements in the hospital. There are no accommodation or security arrangements for doctors and medical workers. Patients have to go outside for medicines, not all medicines are available in the hospital.
The Blood Bank is not open 24x7. Only 10 units of blood were available; A negative, B negative, and AB negative blood was not available. The blood bank is in poor shape and there is a severe lack of basic facilities.
The cleanliness and hygiene conditions in the entire hospital are very poor and there is filth all around. The toilet conditions are very poor indeed. The distance from the prisoners’ ward to the toilet is 200m. There is no separate toilet for women prisoners and they have no option but to use the men’s toilet. There is filth everywhere.
The investigative team comprised Agiaon MLA Comrade Manoj Manzil, AISA State Secretary Shabir Kumar, RYA State Secretary Shiv Prakash Ranjan, State Joint Secretary Pappu Kumar, State Vice President Niranjan Kumar Keshari, AISA District President Sushil Kumar Yadav, District Secretary Vikas Kumar, Roshan Kushwaha, Abhay Kushwaha, Jai Prakash, and Sanjay Sajan.
