Ex-intern’s blog has docs fuming,Sassoon may move court

When contacted,Patel,a junior resident at the emergency department of Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi,told The Indian Express that the blog reflected his views in general about the status of healthcare at government hospitals. “It is not particularly against Sassoon hospital,” he said.

Patel,who studied medicine in Russia,did his internship at B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital from September 2011 to September 2012.

“Imagine any government hospital where a doctor has to handle 250 patients a day. How can there be sympathy for patients? The number of doctors at a government set-up is less and hence they too become victims of the same system,” said Patel. Originally from Mumbai,he is currently preparing for PG entrance exams.

In his blog on December 2,which has since gone viral,Patel has written: “From abandoning an unknown patient to slapping a pregnant woman in labour,I have seen the worst possible scenarios which I would like to share. This is what you go through when you work as a doctor’s apprentice.”

Patel went on to explain how doctors got rid of patients and kept score of how many patients they turned away. “They call the practice ‘batting’ and proudly exclaim how many patients they turn away,” he wrote,adding that patients were ‘encouraged’ to go home even if they were not in such state and sometimes simply shooed away.

“You are just getting yourself accustomed to batting,when your eyes suddenly catch the sight of a patient sitting outside the casualty inside the hospital campus. You inspect him to find out a ‘diabetic foot’ totally necrotized till an extent which requires an amputation. You want to help him; so you talk to the person in charge and try to take the patient inside,when you hear a roar. the CMO (casualty medical officer) is shouting at top of his voice; he is shouting so loudly that you tend to focus on the loudness rather than listening to what he is trying to say. Then over a period of time you start understanding his rhythmic squawks; you are shocked to learn that you are not supposed to help patients like this. Bringing patients in will increase the workload!” Patel wrote.

The blog said how doctors would hit pregnant women in pain to shut them up. “Pregnant women are beaten like anything and,worst of all,the doctors feel it as justified. Before delivery it’s obligatory for an obstetrician to do a Per Vaginal (PV) examination,which according to norms is to be done with rubber gloves on and with the use of a lubricant. You will not even once see a government hospital using a lubricant over rubber gloves during a PVE. It’s discernible that the woman will be in pain without a lubricant and would shout out in pain but the thing you find implausible is when the doctor hits her and asks her to keep her mouth shut,” he wrote.

When contacted,Dr Ramesh Bhosale,head of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics,B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital,denied any such thing,saying if any pregnant woman was beaten she would have complained to her relatives. “He (Patel) had to report to labour room once in two weeks. Now if he did see something so alarming,why did he not report the issue then?” Bhosale asked. “I have read his original blog,which has fetched mixed reactions,” said Bhosale.

“Complaints are acted upon,” adds Dr D B Kadam,head of the Department of Medicine. “Previously,we only had the casualty medical officer working in shifts. Now,resident doctors from various departments,including medicine and orthopaedics,are on duty along with the CMO. He was interning in 2011,so why did he not raise the issue or give us feedback regarding any irregularities,” Kadam asked.