What ails our hospitals?
Hyderabad, Jan 5 (INN): The corporatisation of medicare has taken a heavy toll and things seem to have slipped out of Government hands. If indifference is the trade mark of government hospitals, private ones have become business entities.
The other day President Pratibha Patil's staff member had to leave a Gandhi (government) Hospital against medical advice as he was not getting the proper treatment and when the First Lady took up the issue the entire administration was jolted. Some scapegoat will be found, is a different issue.
What ails the hospitals?
In the government sector, it is the pay, working conditions and lack of staff and motivation. More dangerous is the private sector, where they fleece your blood literally.
A patient had to leave a star hospital in Banjara Hills after signing LAMA (Leaving Against Medical Advice) after the nursing staff denied to give a medicine which the patient has been taking daily and is recorded in the case while being admitted.
The patient was admitted on complaints of dysentery and low potassium levels and recovered fast.
As there was shortage of staff or whatever the reason be, they decided that the patient should be released only the next day.
A senior doctor kept on telling the patient that his potassium levels were high and blood pressure fluctuating so he cannot go. When the prescribed medicine was declined, the patient left the hospital signing the LAMA.
Another star hospital in the same area has taken the blood samples of a patient immediately after joining. He was a cardiac patient and was normal within moments.
The night staff didn't know what to do and when the patient in his complaint said that he has some difficulty in walking, a neurologist was called who promptly ordered for a CT scan.
Everything was fine and the patient was discharged after paying a heavy bill for the two hour stay and left without the blood test reports. The reports did not come, no one had seen them, but he had to pay.
Doctors judge the patient's financial condition and stature before diagnosing the disease and refuse to divulge vital details to the patient and take his/her consent.
Instead, they create a fear psychosis among the attendants and give the impression that they are the saviours, of course with a cost.
A schizophrenic patient, who is cooperative, was given an injection which costs Rs 4,000 and the doctor became a salesman by repeatedly calling the family on the due date to come for the shot. The family learnt the same brand is available in tablet form which costs less than Rs 20.
There is no regulatory body which can effectively deal with the malpractices of the hospitals. Severe measures like cancelation of license, debarring from practice and criminal proceedings need to be introduced.
The hospitals can tamper with all the evidence and change the record to their advantage at any point of time.
The Consumers' Protection Cell is placed at a very disadvantageous position as the records can be tampered with and evidence destroyed.
On one hand the State boasts of medical tourism and on the other it does not want to have accountability.
This dichotomy does not work and there should be accountability and records should be properly maintained and must be available on demand.
News Posted: 5 January, 2012
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