Nitesh Sangral
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 8: It sounds shocking but it is true that the lone maternity and paediatric hospital -Shri Maharaja Ghulab Singh (SMGS) hospital - here has been running without small (sphygmomanometer) cuffs to check blood pressure, compulsory for doctors to check accurate blood pressure of children, for the last many years.
According to details available with Early Times, everyday nearly 1,200 patients visit SMGS OPDs, 100 are admitted to various wards and 60 deliveries and major and minor operations are performed in every 24 hours.
While administration of SMGS hospital claims that it has small cuffs, some doctors say these are unavailable.
"The newborns as well as other children with ailments are being medically examined by doctors with adult cuffs," official sources said and disclosed that the small cuffs were available only in NICU ward of the hospital while in all other wards, including the emergency ward, the show is being run by doctors with cuffs for adults.
Begging anonymity, a doctor, while sharing his experience in the hospital with Early Times, said, "One night, when I examined an eight-year-old ailing boy, the BP measuring machine showed that he had a very high BP. Before prescribing him medicine, I informed my senior doctor who also arrived in the ward. When he examined the boy's BP on another machine, he found it a little above normal. The doctor informed me that all the BP machines were actually for adults and were being used for minors also in the absence of small cuff machines", he said.
He also said that for high blood pressure, the dose of medicine varies and it could prove dangerous for children, but no one "cared about it".
He said, "To get actual reading of BP, a doctor has to check the patient frequently to get actual reading and many a times, doctors prescribe medicine after only one check, which is a very bad practice".
"Time and again, we have informed higher authorities about the issue, but nothing has been done so far. It is like playing with the lives of children," he said.
Despite repeated calls to Deputy Medical Superintendent, SMGSH, Dr Dara Singh, he did not pick up his phone.
When contacted, Principal of GMC, Dr Ghanshyam Dev assured to personally look into the matter and take action. |
