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Medical Infra Issues Across State Lines

  • Writer: Tejas Rokhade
    Tejas Rokhade
  • Jun 12, 2020
  • 3 min read

While battling the Covid-19 pandemic, several Indian states are also engaged in a different conflict against the insufficient medical provisions.


Crux of the Matter


Telangana’s Troubles More than 300 doctors and surgeons from Gandhi General Hospital in Hyderabad sat on a protest against abuse faced by on-duty medics. The turmoil was initiated by the actions of the relatives of a Covid-19 patient, who allegedly assaulted the doctors after the patient’s death. In the demonstration, the protesters have demanded an increase in the number of medical staff and the provision of proper security to prevent incidents of the mentioned type.


Watch | 300 doctors on strike at Hyderabad's only #COVID19 hospital after a doctor on duty was allegedly attacked by patient's relative. @umasudhir with more details. pic.twitter.com/FGuNiYgx59 — NDTV (@ndtv) June 11, 2020

Mumbai Reaching Its Limits In Mumbai, out of 1,094 ICU beds across Govt and Private hospitals, 1,083 (99%) are occupied currently. A similar case exists with ventilators, as 443 (94%) out of 464 are occupied. The distressing numbers come at a time when the Maharashtra government ordered 10,000 private doctors to help the already-stretched government medical team in fighting Covid-19. Besides a dearth of facilities, problems for low-income individuals have been compounded as several private hospitals are charging over the specified limit for Covid-19 treatment. In one such case, the Municipal Corporation ordered a private hospital in south Mumbai to return ₹1 lakh to a patient in case of inflated charges.

Delhi In Dismay Delhi government recently launched an app to provide information regarding vacant beds and ventilators. However, several hospitals have denied admission to patients while claiming a complete absence of vacant beds at their place. In an inspection check, the LNJP hospital in Delhi claimed 0 free beds while the app displayed 1,271 beds vacant.


Does #Delhi have enough beds? Watch this reality check of Delhi Hospitals by India Today reporters. #ITVideo (@Ankit_Tyagi01,@Ramkinkarsingh)#RE pic.twitter.com/rySMOdwpuL — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) June 6, 2020

Across the city, several doctors have not received their salary for months. In a case from north Delhi, doctors belonging to the Kasturba Hospital have not received their salaries since March. The medics have threatened resignation if the salaries are not provided by 16 June.

Gujarat In ‘Dungeon’ Gujarat state government has received severe criticism from its High Court, particularly for the operations of the Civil Hospital of Ahmedabad. The HC called the Civil Hospital a ‘dungeon‘ in its statement and has planned for a surprise visit of the hospital by the judges.

The Civil Hospital is meant to treat patients. However, it appears that as on date, it is as good as a dungeon. May be even worse than a dungeon. Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat HC also criticized the state for a “lack of ventilators” which has impacted the critical patients. Several ventilators were produced in Rajkot – called Dhaman-1 – are being reported inefficient as compared to the regular ones.


#Gujarat: Now 'Dhaman 1' ventilators won't be used to treat COVID-19 patients #TV9News pic.twitter.com/tPrnUQfbVb — tv9gujarati (@tv9gujarati) May 28, 2020

Curiopedia


  1. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is a national voluntary organisation of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine in India, which looks after the interest of doctors and the well being of the community at large. With over 305,458 member doctors through more than 1,700 active local branches in India, it is the largest association of physicians and medical students in India.

  2. The first person to document a surgery was the 6th Century BC Indian physician-surgeon, Sushruta. He specialized in cosmetic plastic surgery and even documented operation of open rhinoplasty. His magnum opus Suśruta–saṃhitā is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine and is considered a foundational text of both Ayurveda and surgery.

  3. Al-Zahrawi, was an Arab-Andalusian physician, surgeon, and chemist. Considered to be the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, he has been described as the father of surgery. Al-Zahrawi’s principal work is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices. The surgery chapter of this work was later translated into Latin, attaining popularity and becoming the standard textbook in Europe for the next five hundred years.

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