Patients turning up at SSKM Hospital’s trauma care centre are denied medical services because too much time is spent on completing admission procedures, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday.
“I visited the trauma care centre and felt bad. Too much time was being spent on completing the formalities. We feel proud about PG Hospital (SSKM). This should not happen here,” Mamata, who is also the state’s health minister, said.
The chief minister visited the hospital on Thursday afternoon to inaugurate a string of services, including a 100-bed paediatric medicine centre and a sports medicine centre, the first of its kind at any government health facility in eastern India.
“Let’s say a pregnant woman has turned up. If it takes hours to complete the admission process, then the patient would die. Process porey hobe (process of admission can wait). Aagey toh rugi chikitsa paabe (the patient should get treatment first),” Mamata said.
Sources at medical colleges and hospitals in the city say at times it takes between five and six hours to complete the admission process after registering the patient’s name against a ‘ticket’.
Most of the time is lost filling out a form after locating a bed — or a trolley — in a ward of the department concerned, they said.
The trauma care centre, an 11-storyed facility at the northwest corner of the SSKM campus, was among the places the chief minister visited at SSKM during the day.
“I visited the centre and found three patients, who were injured after being hit by a car, being taken care of properly. But I found one or two patients with just leucoplast stuck on them. They have not been bandaged. PG is a centre of excellence and trauma care centre is an emergency facility,” the chief minister said.
Recalling her experience at the hospital, she said she had once turned up for a blood test and was left with a swollen and black hand because of the manner in which the syringe was inserted.
“The syringe was inserted with such force that my hand had swollen and turned black. I have since stopped visiting this hospital for blood tests,” Mamata said.
Earlier this week, the chief minister had said senior doctors should be present in hospitals at night.
On Thursday, she reiterated her stand, asking the authorities at SSKM to work out a system to assign night duty to senior doctors. Mamatathen went on to criticise the tendency among a section of doctors to “refer” patients to other hospitals.
“One has to understand that a patient’s life may be at risk if he or she is referred to another hospital. What is our job — to put a patient’s life at risk or to save a patient?” she asked.
A section of doctors cited lack of infrastructure at government hospitals for the spate in referrals.
“Patients are referred primarily because of lack of healthcare infrastructure. The chief minister should not blame nurses and doctors and try to cover up the inadequacies,” said Sajal Biswas of Service Doctors Forum.