Annal Gandhi Government Hospital in pathetic state, claims CPM

TRICHY: The CPM has alleged that the state-of-affairs at Annal Gandhi Government Hospital in Trichy is pathetic despite the state government announcing Rs 100 crore last August to improve the infrastructure. The party, which organised a protest fast from July 10 to 15 at Woraiyur, to highlight the plight of the 621-bed hospital, claimed that corruption, pregnant women lying on the floor and patients paying for every service had become the order of the day.
The party, led by its district secretary Sridhar and city secretary K Vetriselvan gave a memorandum to the district collector Jayashree Muralidharan on Monday listing the woes existing at the hospital. The memorandum said that for want of enough beds, even people with complaints of fracture were made to lie on the floor and most of the available stretchers were used to transport cooking gas to the operation theatres.
Vetriselvan said the hospital remained in a pathetic condition ever since the idea of converting it into a super specialty hospital on a par with AIIMS was mooted six years ago. He also charged that the hospital's floor had not been cleaned for years now.
The hospital authorities also vetoed the idea of district secretary Sridhar's proposal to clean the premises with the help of members from the Democratic Student Federation of India. However, on July 12 the hospital was thoroughly washed ahead of the visit by a three-member team from the Medical Council of India. The team visited all the wards including the steam laundry, mortuary, kitchen and the blood bank, said resident medical officer Shiva Kumar.
Responding to the CPM's charges, Kumar admitted that there was a severe shortage of sanitary workers. There were only 23 male and 26 workers and only half of them were available during one of the two shifts. "There is a need for at least 100 sanitary workers, out of which a minimum of 45 are needed to assist the four major operation theatres (emergency, main, family planning and eye) during the day. In fact, there are six regular theatres operating within the main theatre where elective cases are referred. The other operation theatres get one worker each," admitted Kumar.