Kolkata: 77-year-old denied admission by two Govt hospitals

Kolkata: Despite strict guidelines by the state health department that no emergency patients can be denied treatment at any hospital, two government medical college hospitals in Kolkata refused to treat a 77-year-old man who was bleeding severely from the abdomen.

Even though the man was turned away by two medical college hospitals, the third one only offered him first aid when the man fighting for his life needed immediate medical attention.

The three medical college hospitals which showed negligence towards the patients include SSKM Hospital, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) and NRS Medical College and Hospital.

Eventually, the family members managed to admit the severely injured elderly patient to a private nursing home after helplessly wandering from one hospital to another.

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The patient, a resident of Garia in Kolkata, was in severe condition on Thursday after his rectum was heavily bleeding and was not stopping. He required immediate hospitalization to save his life.

His family members rushed him to SSKM hospital in the hope of getting treatment. Still, the situation got worse when a doctor at the hospital informed them that no bed was available at the hospital and referred them to CNMCH.

Following this, they left for CNMCH only to hear that the surgeon was unavailable who could treat him. From there, they took him to NRS hospital, but the doctors only offered him first aid instead of admitting him to the hospital.

Explaining the matter in detail, a family member of the patient told The Telegraph “He was passing out and his blood pressure was falling. So we decided to take him to hospital. We reached the Emergency ward of SSKM around 2 pm. After two hours, a doctor said no bed was available and advised us to take him to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH).”

“Doctors at CNMCH said the surgeons are on duty twice a week and asked us to come back later. Similarly, Doctors at NRS provided some first aid but said he could not be admitted. They asked us to come back after a few days,” the family member added.

The patient was finally admitted to a private nursing home after being referred by ESI Hospital in Maniktala.

However, it is not the first time government hospitals have refused treatment to emergency patients even after numerous orders from the health department to undertake them and refer a patient only after ensuring that a bed was available at the preferred hospital.

Earlier, many patients were denied treatment by the same hospitals. In view of this, the health officials ensured that the department would investigate allegations that the patient was denied admission.

Commenting on the matter, the official said, “Refusals are still happening and the only solution is stringent monitoring. But stringent supervision of the functioning of big hospitals such as SSKM is difficult because of a lack of enough personnel. We are trying to introduce some measures to improve monitoring.”

Interestingly, fingers have been also pointed towards the authorities claiming they failed to maintain a proper system at the hospitals. Some senior doctors at government hospitals alleged that the lack of proper monitoring of doctors’ attendance and the absence of a proper appraisal system may have caused the current crisis.

“A regulatory commission should be set up for government hospitals since it has a good impact. People are benefitting from it,” a doctor said.

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