Patients lie on trolleys in Panchkula hospital

Officiating Principal Medical Officer (PMO) of the hospital,Dr Sanjeev Trehan,admitted that there is a shortage of beds. “We think the shortage will get over in the next two-three months when the work over one of the blocks of the indoor facility will be completed. It will add 30-40 beds to our existing capacity,” he said.

Patients who come to the hospital from areas as far-off as Pinjore said that they have to argue with the hospital staff to give them beds,who many a time,throw up their hands,saying that they cannot help them out and that they will have to make do with the trollies. Even officials add that the patients who are well-off and can afford the facilities at private hospitals prefer to get treated from private hospitals.”

A government official said that the hospital requires even more than the additional capacity of 150 beds that are being planned to be set up. Civil Surgeon,Dr V K Bansal,however,said that the new facility will help meet the demand of patients. “The new facility that is coming up will not only add to our capacity of existing beds but will have modern medical facilities. It is coming up at a cost of over Rs 36 crore,” said Bansal.

Attendants who come with the patients to the hospital also rue the condition of the hospital. Ravinder Singh,a Pinjore resident,who had admitted his mother at the hospital,said that they were not provided with beds. “My mother has a problem of appendicitis and we argued with the doctors that we should be provided with the trolleys,but in vain,” he said.

A resident of Sector 25,Panchkula,said that he had admitted his child to the hospital and was told that he cannot be provided a bed for indoor facility. Partients writhing with pain and admitted for serious accidents were also being treated on rickety trolleys.