Emergency dept kept fully functional as OPD and routine surgeries severely hit; other wards managed by doctors, interns, student nurses; no Class IV workers means kin carry their dead to morgue, clear refuse

Sassoon heart keeps ticking through paralysing strike

The emergency department of the hospital was working full strength and patients admitted to wards were being managed by senior and intern doctors along with student nurses.

Coping with Pressure: The Sassoon General Hospital works under tremendous pressure as it is a tertiary healthcare centre serving patients, most of them severely ill, from not only the city but also rural areas. With a strike, it is virtually crippled. The hospital kept things going yesterday with effective prioritisation. File Pic

Surgeries put off
but routine medical services like the out patient department (OPD) and surgeries were severely hit, said the hospital administration.

"About 80-90 routine surgeries were cancelled," said Dr Arun Jamkar, dean of Sassoon hospital. "Ward services were affected to a minor extent and wards had to be handled by junior doctors and student nurses."

Admitted patients were managed well by doctors, but the absence of ward boys became a big problem for patients' relatives, who had to pick up refuse from wards and even ferry bodies of their dead to the morgue.
Kishore Shelar's uncle Arun Deokar died at the hospital early on Tuesday morning.

"My uncle died at 6 am but his body was just lying there. We had to pick it and get it to the morgue, which is at least 200-250 metres from the main hospital building," said Shelar.

Bodies in wards
In ward number 12, Rekha Sherpan, who was tending to her nephew Nagesh (18), who was admitted to the hospital four days ago following a road accident, said a body was lying on the cot next to her nephew's for two hours.

"A patient called Dyanoba Ghogre died here early in the morning, but no one came to take him.
u00a0
After a few hours his relatives were asked to take him to the morgue, but his bloodied handkerchief is still lying on the floor below," said Rekha, pointing to the cloth.Ambulance driver Ganesh Arhe said he also saw relatives of patients carrying bodies to the morgue.

No job too small
Junior doctors on duty in the wards said many workers had not shown up that morning to sweep wards.

"The student nurses are going to fetch food for the patients and we have to lift patients and shift them on to other beds or take them out for examinations," said a junior doctor, requesting anonymity.

u00a0"Many times they have soiled the beds and we've had to handle it as there is no help available."

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