The directive of chief minister Raghubar Das to allow just one attendant for one patient at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) showed signs of getting implemented from Monday, at least in the emergency ward.

The Telegraph team that visited RIMS between 12.30pm and 1.30pm saw less crowds in the emergency, but the wards were packed with attendants.

At the emergency, a private security guard said they were not allowing more than one attendant with one patient even if people demanded to be let in. Deepak Mahto, a man from Angara who was standing with two other men, agreed that the “system was strict”. “Four of us are accompanying a patient with head injuries but only one has been allowed inside with the injured man, we are waiting outside.”

CM Das on June 25 had categorically ordered the RIMS administration not to allow more than one attendant per patient to reduce chaos and crowds inside the state’s largest government hospital. RIMS had then claimed it would take a week to implement the order.

In the wards, it looks like it would take more time.

On Monday, the corridor of the neurosurgery ward on the third floor was crowded with patient beds as the hall was packed. Doctors jostled for space with attendants.

A junior doctor said this was how they worked at RIMS. “We try to do everything possible for our poor patients despite constraints of space, resources and manpower. Unlike AIIMS, RIMS does not have an upper cap (on patient admissions). Yet the government uses insulting language for us,” he said, referring to the CM’s widely publicised remark of getting the ACB to probe into the private practice of government doctors.

A security guard near the entrance of the trauma centre at RIMS said it was tough, with their limited strength, to track all attendants. “The number of private security guards at RIMS is around 400, but divided in shifts, hardly 150 to 180 guards are on duty at a time. Of the 50 SAP jawans deputed at RIMS, around 25 of them work in one shift. With these numbers, it’s difficult to check attendants who enter from six points. Attendants themselves have to realise the virtues of keeping hospital wards peaceful.”

President of RIMS Junior Doctors’ Association Dr Ajit Kumar Singh said the CM’s directive of one-patient, one-attendant had been partially enforced. RIMS director Dr D.K. Singh said: “The one-patient, one-attendant rule will be gradually visible throughout the RIMS wards,” he said.