Patients left in the lurch after only hospital for Central govt staff in Delhi shuts down surgical services

In an incident that has left the National Capital red-faced, the only hospital serving scores of Central government employees, pensioners and their families has kept its surgical wing shut for the past three weeks.

Delhi’s only hospital under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) at RK Puram closed down its Operation Theatre (OT) on 24 September without any formal announcement. According to officials, the anaesthesia machine had broken down and needed immediate replacement. It has been three weeks since and the machine has not been replaced.

The pregnant women are the worst affected who were expected to go into delivery and were asked by the hospital authorities to go to private hospitals empanelled with the government.

The CGHS is comprehensive health care for all the central government employees, railway service personnel, members of Parliament, former governors, prime ministers and judges of the Supreme Court. The scheme offers dispensary services including domiciliary care, hospitalization, laboratory examinations, surgery, etc.

Dr DC Joshi, Director, CGHS told Firstpost, “After I was told that the anaesthesia machine has stopped functioning, due to which the CGHS hospital had to close down its OT, I’ve asked the additional director of Medical Store Depot for procurement on urgent basis.”

What is ironical is that the repair of the machine is likely to cost a mere Rs 91,000, which the hospital administration and the government have not been able to fix so far. More shocking is the question being asked on the government’s failure to replace the machine and why the hospital failed to get it done, despite knowing that it’s more than 12-year old.

“The machine is almost 12 years old and mere repairing is going to be risky. It’s time to replace the machine with a new one. Once the old machine gets repaired, we can have two machines,” added Dr Joshi.

A new anaesthesia machine will cost about Rs 19 lakh. Meanwhile, the hospital authorities have sent estimates both for repair of the old machine and purchase of a new machine to the competent authority.

“If for a simple repairing, more than three weeks have passed, without any substantial progress, it’s not hard to calculate how long it would take to buy a new one. Hundreds of cases of deliveries, vasectomy and surgeries at RK Puram hospital have got stuck in red-tapism,” said a source in the Department of Health.

The 40-bed hospital has a staff of 130 comprising 25 doctors and caters to patients not just in Delhi but also patients from the NCR. It has three departments — Paediatrics, Obstretics and Gynaecology. Consequently, expecting mothers and children comprise its biggest patient group.

Sudipa Biswas, wife of a Class-III government employee, who was asked by the hospital administration to consult a doctor in a private hospital, said, “This is the ninth month of my pregnancy and I’ve been consulting a doctor at this CGHS hospital right from the start. Now, just when I’m about to deliver any time now, I’m told that the OT is shut and I must consult doctors elsewhere. Do you realise what great difficulty and risk they have put me to? The new doctor will take time to understand my case and it may prove dangerous for me.”

With this inordinate delay in repairing of the machine, patients have been compelled to believe that “due to vested interest, the hospital authorities have been referring their patients to private hospitals. Visiting a private hospital has proved to be a financial burden on a patient’s family.

Political activist TA Radhakrishnan Aiyyer alleged, “The actual reason of hospital authorities delaying the entire process and referring patients to a private hospital is that they get commission from private hospitals against each recommendation. Moreover, going to a private hospital means financial burden on a CGHS beneficiary, as he’ll have to deposit a big sum of money to get admitted, irrespective of the fact that it would be reimbursed. A patient won’t get the same attention in a new hospital at the last moment that he was getting while undergoing treatment at CGHS hospital. It’s really pathetic that the Ministry of Health is so callous about its own government staff.”