At Panchkula hospital, long wait for doctors

PANCHKULA: Tall claims of health officials to provide good medical facilities in General Hospital, Sector 6, appear to have fallen flat with a large number of patients forced to wait for hours for doctors to attend to them.
"My daughter was in acute pain. Even after listening to her screams, the doctors, including a woman doctor in the night shift, on Tuesday kept talking to each other.My son asked the male doctor to check the patient. He asked him to put her on a stretcher. My son himself had to look for one. Finally, the woman doctor came in a very casual attitude to examine her," claimed Sheela Devi, a visitor.
Patients have also complained about the absence of doctors from their offices. "I had to wait for a doctor to attend to me for an hour. I was suffering from stomach ache. The doctor came after one hour. Moreover, the attitude of doctors is annoying. They talk rudely, acting as bosses. I would never like to go to the hospital again," said Vaasu Chabbra, a resident of Sector 15.
According to doctors, shortage of the staff was the main reason behind the problem.
"We don't have enough staff, but still we try our best to pay attention to patients. Let's say if there are two doctors appointed in OPD and OT, and one is off, this means one doctor would have to look after both the units. As a result, patients sometimes have to wait for doctors," said a senior doctor.
Principal medical officer Usha Gupta, however, claimed, two doctors were always available in the emergency. "There are always two doctors in the emergency for patients. If the offices are vacant, it means the doctors might be on a round or must be attending patients. Moreover, around 300 patients come in a day and it becomes very difficult for the hospital staff to carry a patient on a stretcher themselves," Gupta said.