OPDs test one8217;s patience

CHANDIGARH, JAN 22: Most patients who undergo treatment at the PGI's out-patient departments come away from the experience exhausted. The...

CHANDIGARH, JAN 22: Most patients who undergo treatment at the PGI8217;s out-patient departments come away from the experience exhausted. They speak of chaos and confusion, long waits and harassment from the initial process of getting an OPD card, to the time the doctors finally see them. Many swear that they will never visit the premier hospital again despite its highly qualified faculty and comprehensive facilities.

The problem starts from the moment the patients enter the hospital. Patients or their attendants crowd before the window where the OPD cards are made. Some arrive long before 8 a.m. when the windows open. But even those who arrive well in time often fail to get a card made despite standing in the jostling crowd right up to 11 a.m. when the windows close.

The card refers the patient to a department of medicine or surgery depending on the ailment. A person with a head injury, for instance, will probably be sent first to a surgeon and then further referred to a neuro-surgeon.

The neuro-surgery OPD is open thrice a week so one may have to return home 8212; or, in the case of those from distant places, find a place in the city to stay. By the time the patients reach the right doctor, the OPD timings get over and some of them go unattended everyday.

Also, the patients find it difficult to locate the various OPDs and departments despite the guidance of the hospital staff. The main building has been divided into six blocks A,B,C,D,E,F but it is difficult to understand the rationale behind this classification, especially for illiterate patients. The coloured markings on the floors, which the patients could follow to reach the various OPDs, have all faded away.

At least half of those waiting outside these OPDs are not patients. They are those who are accompanying their patients. Also, a lot of the patients outside the medicine and surgery departments have to be referred further.

Only medicine, surgery, gynae, ENT, skin, dental and paediatrics medicine and surgery departments can be approached directly, while patients are referred to various departments 8212; cardilology, neurology, neuro-surgery, pulmonary medicine, gastroenterology, renal clinic, endocrinology through medicine and surgery departments. The entrance is choaked with vehicles in the morning and finding a parking slot is very difficult. The existing space is used by the employees8217; vehicles. There are incidents of car thefts too.

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Says Dr B.K. Sharma, Director of the PGI: 8220;We cannot deny treatment to patients coming to the hospital. They come from Punjab, Haryana as well as Himachal Pradersh. The problem would only be solved with more super-speciality hospitals in the region.8221;

That8217;s a tall order.