Children's hospital lacks basic facilities, water

Two or three children put on single bed

The Kalawati Children’s Hospital is one of the biggest central government hospitals for children but it accommodates two to three children on a single bed. Moreover, it cannot provide space for the accompanying mothers.

Parents and relatives of young children do not have space to take care of basic needs. “I have to feed my child in open in front of everyone,” said a mother whose three-month-old child has been admitted for pneumonia.There are other problems too. The hospital does not even have filtered water for children and their attendants. A proposal for installation of reverse osmosis water purifier with every water cooler was passed in early 2009. But no action has been taken yet.

According to sources, the water in the area is hard and unfit to drink without proper purification.

“We cannot give this water to the patient. We buy five bottles of mineral water, which cost us Rs 60 every day," said Javed. His one-and-a-half year old nephew is admitted here for the past seven days.

There is no place to wash clothes and hang them to dry. People either use paid washrooms or, in event of lack of money, use dirty toilets compromising on hygiene for the children.

“I go to the paid bathroom outside hospital. It cost Rs 10 per person. We spend Rs 20-30 every day on bathing and washing clothes," said Sunita from Uttar Pradesh.

The family members also complained of a bad smell in the wards. Javed said the children defecate and urinate on the beds. As there are more than one on each bed, the situation becomes even worse, he added. Although the food is provided free for the children and attendant, the canteen falls short of proper food for the rest, forcing them to buy food from outside. 

“The expenditure per day for a family is easily Rs 250, which is unaffordable for most coming who come to this hospital,” said a 14-year-old patient.

A senior staff member said these unhygienic conditions were a serious issue. “The administration needs to understand that they are dealing with children here. They cannot care on their own. One expects basic minimum facilities so that the mothers staying with children can avail basic facilities,” he said. 

Many machines that help in diagnosis are not available even though the hospital has received approval. Since a child cannot comprehensively explain his or her problem, everything depends on the machines. If the hospital lacks this facility then we are in a grave danger here, a staffer added.