Several families from the districts whose children are admitted in government hospitals in the city said on Thursday that the primary health set-ups closer to their homes lacked infrastructure or did not have enough doctors to treat acute respiratory infections.
“Doctors at the state hospital said they did not have adequate facilities to treat my child if he suddenly developed an acute breathing problem,” said Razia Bibi, from Basirhat in North 24-Parganas district, sitting in an ambulance at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences in Kankurgachhi on Thursday. She was holding her six-month-old son who was crying in her lap.
“Jodi dom nitey na parey amader okhane ventilator nei (if the baby struggles to breathe we don’t have ventilators),” Razia said.
Razia’s husband Abdur Samad is a vegetable vendor. The family hired an ambulance to cover nearly 73km to reach the state-run facility, which was struggling with the flow of patients.
The health department has recently issued an advisory saying no child with a respiratory ailment can be referred to a hospital in Kolkata without ensuring that a bed is booked there. The referral, if needed, must be done with the knowledge of the superintendent of the hospital.
“The state-run block primary hospital near our house in Gorehat has 52 beds. But there aren’t enough doctors... The crunch is so acute that the doctor who attends the outdoor in the day continues throughout the night, attends outdoor the next day and then goes home,” said Tayeb Mollah, a resident of Dakshin Barasat, a village in Jaynagar in Baruipur subdivision of South 24-Parganas district.
Tayeb had been seeing a private doctor for since his 13-month-old son Masood developed fever and cough. On Wednesday, the doctor said the child was in the stage of pre-pneumonia and it would be better if he could visit a hospital in Kolkata. Tayeb came to the Dr BC Roy Institute.
“The Baruipur state general hospital is struggling with the pressure of patients. The facilities there are not adequate to handle critically ill children,” he said.
Hospital officials and relatives of several children said across all the wards, two patients were forced to share one bed at the Dr BC Roy Institute.
Senior doctors at the 400-bedded hospital said they were running full with patients admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit and intensive care unit, apart from the wards. The ventilators were all occupied, too, they said.
Asked about allegations of the lack of infrastructure in district hospitals, Siddhartha Neogi, director of the state’s health services, said the health department could do little if families continued to flock to hospitals in Kolkata.
“We have already issued an advisory asking doctors not to refer patients to Kolkata. If people continue to come, what can we do?” he asked.