Here doctors carry patients on their back

Thanks to non-functional lifts at Safdarjung hospital, medical students have to play porters to those who require pathological tests

Thanks to non-functional lifts at Safdarjung hospital, medical students have to play porters to those who require pathological tests

This may well qualify as the example of the model doctor-patient relationship.
However, at Safdarjung Hospital's Vardhman Mahavir Medical College it is more due to the non-functional lifts than medical ethics that drive the doctors, most of them junior residents and students, to go that extra mile in patient care.


Stir(red): Striking doctors at the Safdarjung hospital blocking the OPD
on Wednesday.u00a0pics/Taw Nana

As most of the pathological labs are situated on the fourth and fifth floor, the doctors have to carry patients on their back to the laboratories for getting the prescribed tests done. "As most of the patients that come to our hospital are poor and old and usually have no attendants, we have to play porters to carry them up to the fourth or fifth floor," said a medical student, requesting anonymity.

The departments of pathology, microbiology and the pharmacology are situated on fourth, fifth and sixth floor respectively. Most of the cancer patients have to go to the department of pathology as it houses the FNAC (Free Needle Aspiration Cytology) center. The centre is very crucial as it diagnoses the types and stages of cancer and performs soft cell collection and tumour detection.

The medical students have been striking against the pathetic state of affairs at one of the major hospitals in the city. "There was no water supply for four days, no electricity and the lift is not working since a long time. Chemicals in the laboratory are spoiled soon, as the AC is not working and the required temperature cannot be maintained. Due to scarcity of water and frequent disruptions the diagnostic test reports get delayed," said another striking student.

Around 400 - 500 medical students entered third day of their indefinite strike on Wednesday against the pathetic state of affairs at the hospital. Eleven members of the Students' Welfare Association blocked the OPD, after junior residents joined them.

Sumit Kumar, a third year MBBS student, said: "We have to do this to make them hear us. There is no maintenance, no proper water supply and no lifts. It is not just about us. The patients are also suffering with us every day due to the indifferent attitude of the authorities."u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
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Amid the chaos, patients were a harried lot. Harbans Kaur, 73, said, "I was supposed to be admitted for blood

The Other Side

We are waiting for the NOC from NDMC. As soon as we get that we'll start working on the building infrastructure problems. For now generators will be run for the hostel's electricity prblem. If the problem is not solved, I'll take the whole responsibility -Dr Jagdish Prasad, Director, Safdarjung Hospital

transfusion as I am suffering from blood cancer. I am waiting since 9 am but the OPD is closed and nobody is there to tell us anything."u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
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"I am a heart patient and had to consult the doctor for follow-up. However, no work is being done today. It is ultimately the patients who have to suffer whether it is the indifference of the authorities or the agitation by the doctors," said Saraswati Verma, 65.

Though the students called off the stir after college director Dr Jagdish Prasad assured them, they have decided to wear black ribbons till Friday.

The standoff

The union health ministry had released Rs 1.7 crore on Monday to overhaul the falling infrastructure in the Safdarjung hospital and Vardhman Mahavir Medical college. "We have sanctioned a substantial amount of money for repair work. A three-member panel has been set up to look into the matter and appease the students," said R.K. Srivastava, director, health services. The panel comprises director of the hospital, Dr Jagdish Prasad, Medical superintendent Dr N.K. Mohanty and college principal Dr V.K. Sharma. The hospital authorities and the president of the students' union will meet New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) officials on Thursday to ensure the Rs 33-crore new hostel, which has been lying ready for the past six months, gets all the necessary clearances for students to be move in.u00a0