While the 13-storey trauma care centre in Jogeshwari (East) opened its doors to the public on October 21 last year, it still lacks basic medical facilities — including doctors and CT scan machines
The trauma care centre at Jogeshwari East is 13 storeys high. While the interiors are attractive, just 30 nurses man the 104-bed trauma care hospital. Pic/Nimesh Dave
When the BMC inaugurated a 13-storey trauma care centre in Jogeshwari (East) last October, the then additional municipal commissioner had promised that the centre would be up and running within six months.
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While there is space for 104 beds, there are hardly any patients in the wards
While over eight months have passed since the inauguration, the 13-storey facility is still far from what can be called a fully functional trauma care centre, with empty floors and unoccupied beds implying that the Rs 134 crore of taxpayers’ money that was used for its construction has been all but a waste.
While there is space for 104 patients, there are hardly any in the wards. The deserted wards can be explained by the absence of infrastructure for basic medical facilities, including surgeons, neurosurgeons and nurses. The BMC’s Improvement Committee still hasn’t given its approval for the installation of MRI and CT scan machines.
The trauma care centre at Jogeshwari East is 13 storeys high. While the interiors are attractive, just 30 nurses man the 104-bed trauma care hospital. Pic/Nimesh Dave
And while the centre was referred to as a specialty hospital at the time of its construction, the specialist doctors who are expected to man it were never appointed at the centre, and are thus never available.
The lack of medical staff at the trauma care hospital has become a matter of concern for tertiary hospitals, who have to bear the load of patients who are turned away from its doors.
In the past, too, the civic body has received flak for failing to deliver on the services it promised at specialty hospitals like Cooper in Juhu and Shatabdi in Kandivli.
One of the doctors at the trauma care centre said, requesting anonymity: “There have been many instances where patients had to be shifted to Sion Hospital for surgeries, as there were no specialists in this hospital.
We lack heads for different departments, which are run by the corresponding heads of departments in Sion Hospital. There has never been more than 20 per cent occupancy of the beds.
The hospital has been built to cater to patients and treat them here with the available resources. But, the ground reality is very different. Moreover, we have not been provided with specialist doctors yet.”
The trauma care is in dire need of surgeons and neurosurgeons to tend to victims of accidents that are frequent on the Western Express Highway, along which the hospital is situated. The proposed blood bank still exists only on paper.
While the interiors are attractive, just 30 nurses man the 104-bed trauma care hospital. Additional Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh said, “We are planning to install MRI and CT scan machines. The blood bank will be started soon, and postings of the doctors will be taken care of soon.”
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