JOIN USShortage of doctors at the Isolation Hospital (Epidemic Disease Hospital) has become a cause for concern as most patients with epidemic diseases from other hospitals are referred to this public health facility.
One of the oldest public hospitals in the City, located near the Swami Vivekananda Road Metro Station, Isolation Hospital is left with just three doctors including the medical superintendent. One out of the four posts sanctioned to this hospital has been vacant for the past eight months.
“Due to shortage of doctors, one doctor is expected to work double shift when the other is on leave,” according to a source.
According to sources, on regular days, the hospital gets three patients on an average. However, more than 200 patients are admitted in case of outbreak of diseases.
“We see people in the corridors. They sometimes stand in queues to get treated,” the source said and further added that with no choice left, the others are provided with mattresses to sleep on the floor.
Of the 37 posts sanctioned, only 21 are filled. The Isolation Hospital is best known for treating tetanus patients and also caters to rabies.
In the last year, over 4,000 cases were treated in the hospital, according to a statement of the hospital on communicable diseases of in-patients, outpatients and death cases.
Also, the hospital saw six cases of rabies, according to Dr Raghunandan, Medical Superintendent and District Surgeon, Isolation Hospital. The survival rates in case of these rabies patients were nil. “We try to give them peace in the last moments of their life. The patients reject water as they develop hydrophobia and also dislike air blowing on their face,” Raghunandan explained.
The hospitals is one among three in the State to have special isolation wards. Speaking to Deccan Herald, M Madan Gopal, principal secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said the concept of isolation is outdated. “The Hospital facilities are utilised only in case of epidemics,” he said.