Patients wait at hospitals as nurses off work

NEW DELHI: Patient services were badly hit at the government hospitals in Delhi on Friday as nurses went on strike despite imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).
At the Lok Nayak and Safdarjung hospitals, most of the planned surgeries had to be postponed while the emergency services were managed with the help of resident doctors and other staff members, said doctors.A few nurses, who are on contract, joined work, helping stem the crisis in some places.
“All leaves were cancelled and everybody--all doctors, technicians and other staff--were asked to come to work.We are filling in for the nurses in many ways. Doctors are taking samples for tests and even shifting patients,“ said a doctor at Safdarjung Hospital. The patient load is very high due to the chikungunya outbreak and there are other emergencies as well, he added. Many patients complai ned that the wait was longer than usual in OPDs and there was no doctor in wards to monitor the condition of patients. Several patients faced trouble in getting admission due to the chaos. Babulal's 9-year-old daughter was one of them.She fell off a tree recently and has become paralysed from the waist down due to spinal injuries. Babulal, a daily wage labourer from Latehar in Jharkhand, tried to get her treated at AIIMS last week. It didn't work out and he brought her to Safdarjung Hospital on Friday, but doctors told them to come later.
“We can't sleep on the pavement; it's full of all kinds of people. I am concerned about my daughter,“ he said. A dejected Babulal may have to go back soon as he doesn't have enough funds to stay in the city. Tazir Hasan has also been waiting since 8am for the checkup of his son Noor (12) suffering from high fever.“There isn't any nurse to assist us,“ he said. The situation is similar at Sucheta Kriplani Hospital where the nurses were seen protesting at their hostel.
Only AIIMS was not affected by the strike as all nurses turned up for duty . The situation was also slightly better at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where contractual nurses were working as per schedule.“However, we don't have any nurse to collect blood samples. The pharmacy is also shut down,“ said Dr Ashish Sharma, a senior doctor. Aanchal Rai (18), who had been admitted to the general ward for the past two days, said there wasn't anyone to clean the rooms and the beds. “No nurse is around to take patients to washrooms.“
At Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, the permanent nursing staff were seen protesting outside the premises while there was a queue in front of the emergency ward.“We are concerned about the patients, too, but the government should also think about us. We have been raising the salary and allowance issues for the past nine months, but the government is not bothered,“ said Ram Kesh Meena, a union member.
However, that's no consolation for the harassed patients and their families. “I came to the hospital at 9am with my mother as she was having breathing trouble. But there is no one to look after her. A few doctors and nurses are busy with emergency cases,“ said Mahinder Kumar at GTB Hospital.