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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, July 24: The simplest tests and checkups have become a nerve-racking experience for patients. What should have been a matter of just moving from one floor to the next, getting your test done and then moving back to your ward, turned into an exhausting experience for 22-year-old Sanju.
Sanju, who works as a dhobi in R.K. Puram had been experiencing severe stomach pain for over a week. 8220;We had brought her to the Safdarjung hospital a week ago,8221; said her father-45-year old Girdhari Lal who lives in Rajasthan. 8220;Then the doctors had given her some medicine and had discharged her.8221;
The doctors told Girdhari to take his daughter for an endoscopy to a nursing home in Lajpat Nagar. 8220;We went there and paid Rs 300 for the endoscopy. However the compounder there thought that an ultrasound had to be done and he conducted that. Luckily at that point a doctor came and realised the mistake. We were told that there were no endoscopy facilities there. We finally managed to get our money back and leave, almost an hour later.8221;
Then they went to Moolchand hospital, stopping off on the way to eat something. At the hospital, the attendant at the endoscopy lab, was about to take the test when he realised that Sanju had eaten lunch. 8220;He told us that he couldn8217;t conduct the test which had to be done on an empty stomach. So we had to leave that place as well. Finally we returned to the hospital after spending the whole day just travelling around. The doctors here have again fixed the test for tomorrow. If the labs here had been working we wouldn8217;t be having these problems,8221; he said.
Another case is that of 40-year-old R.B. Rajbhar, a head constable in the CISF. He is posted in Saket and is living away from his family in Bihar. Doctors say that for fifteen days he had been complaining of high fever. This morning he was found in an unconscious state in the bathroom near his living quarters and was admitted to Safdarjung. His colleagues are being sent to keep him company in the ward. 8220;I don8217;t even know his full name,8221; confessed a fellow head constable. 8220;I8217;ve just been sent here to stay with him.8221; He couldn8217;t recall the name and had to dig into his pocket and find a piece of paper with the name on it.
The doctors attending him say that he had suffered a stroke and had sent him to a hospital near Pusa for a CAT scan. He is still in a semi-conscious state and doctors say that there is a danger of his contracting infection from the filth that surrounds him.
