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| Poor state of affairs at SKIMS worrisome for patients Only 4 ticketing, cash counters for 2000 visitors | | | Bashir Assad
SRINAGAR, Apr 19: Patient care in prestigious SKIMS at Soura Srinagar is crumbling under the high patient inflow as the manpower available in the Institute does not suffice to the demand.
The huge rush of patients to SKIMS and the lack of manpower to handle the rush at various counters is something that has added to the miseries of the visiting patients. On an average 2000 patients visit SKIMS daily and most of them come from remote areas of Kashmir valley. The worrisome experience started when the visitors are subjected to many hardships on account of shortage of manpower at important counters like Ticketing Counter, Cash Counter, Laboratory Counters and Emergency Counters.
For 2000 patients, there are only 4 ticketing counters and it takes one to two hours to a patient to get Ticket. Then again he/she has to wait for hours together outside the Doctor's room for his turn and when Doctor prescribes a test, he/she has to wait for two to three hours for a simple blood sugar test which he or she has to perform on fasting.
The number of persons handling the various counters is the same as was in days when at the most one or two hundred patients would visit the SKIMS. Only a few days back the admission counter for Emergency was shifted about half a kilometre away from the Emergency and the patients visiting Emergency find it very difficult to obtain admission cards. Logic behind this illogical exercise is not known.
Astoundingly equipment to perform different tests, computers for ticketing and other equipments are sufficiently available in the Super Specialty Hospital but the handlers are few who could not match the demand of the inflow and such a state of affairs has brought disrepute to this reputed institute.
The last two decades of turmoil have weighed heavily on the health sector of the State. The rural health infrastructure , despite tall claims of the Government, is in shambles, with the result everybody is moving towards city hospitals especially the SKIMS, however, the management in the institute is crumbling as the authorities never review the functioning of the basic counters The patient overload has marred the quality of healthcare at the institute, a fact that is agreed by the administrators.
A majority of patients undergoing treatment in SKIMS or who have attended its OPD are usually not satisfied with the facilities available at the hospital.A patient visiting OPD has to spend four to six hours in the hospital for 5 minutes attention. J&K is one of the unhealthy States. In Kashmir valley alone the Health Department and tertiary care hospitals sell more than 50 lakh OPD tickets every year. Many others go unregistered as patients prefer private nursing homes or clinics. Quite a good number of dis-satisfied patients visit outside States for the treatment. On an average Kashmiris purchase drugs worth 1000 crore rupees every year. All the figures have been increasing with every passing day. Experts fear that the health care system of Kashmir will crumble under its own weight if Government doesn't come out with a proper health policy to plug all the loopholes and provide quality health care to people. |
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