Are government hospitals actually life-savers?

VARANASI: There is a long waiting list for MRI and ultrasound tests at SSL Hospital. Get a registration slip for MRI test in November and it will be done in February next year. On taking an appointment for ultrasound in November, the diagnosis will actually be performed by December 20. This is the present situation of Sir Sundar Lal (SSL) Hospital.The condition is worst in the divisional and district hospitals. These hospitals do not have advanced radio diagnosis services as per norms.
Due to unavailability of such facilities in government hospitals and the heavy waiting list in SSL Hospital, patients often succumb or end up paying heavy sums in private diagnosis centres.
A stroll near radio diagnostic centre Shri Shiv Prasad Gupta (SSPG) divisional hospital and district women hospital would reveal the real picture of the patient care system. Not all kinds of X-rays are performed in the divisional hospital, the women's hospital has no X-ray facility at all. "The ultrasound machine remains out of work most of the time, while on many occasion, the ultrasound tests are closed early than the scheduled time," said Sapna, a pregnant woman. According to superintendent-in-chief, SSPG divisional hospital, Dr VK Srivastava, there are planning to start MRI and CT scan services in the hospital soon. "The facility is lacking at present, we refer patients to Allahabad, Lucknow and SSL Hospital," he informed.
Poor patients visit various government hospitals. The crowd at SSL Hospital comes from whole of eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and even Nepal. Patients suffering from neurological, urological, cardiac and endocrine disorders arrive here.
Sources in the radio diagnosis centre of SSL said that the hospital is able to perform only 20 MRI tests a day. Around 25 patients arrive in the centre every day. Nearly 1,800 patients are in the wait list and the list has been extended up to February 25. There is only one machine for MRI test and that too is around 13 years old. There is only one technician to operate it. The test is performed from 8 am to 3 pm. The efficiency of the machine had also decreased. Not more than 20 tests can be performed in a day.
Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, director Dr RG Singh has earlier stated that the MRI tests will be done on PPP model and the service will operate for 24 hours soon. However, no further development had taken place in this regard. Meanwhile, patients suffering from chronic illnesses end up emptying their pocket in private clinics or die. "Around 5 to 6 such appointments go in waste every day as the patient does not appear," said a source.
Kishorilal, a farmer from Chandauli who had arrived to get the MRI test for his wife received an appointment for February 24. The woman is suffering from severe pain in her waist. The long waiting list in the hospital is increasing the worrisome. The case with ultra sonography is same. Manoj Kumar from Sarnath is worried to see the ultrasound diagnosis appointment for his brother as December 17. "This will delay the treatment and the condition of my brother will deteriorate as the doctors will not be in a position to put him on treatment once the tests are not done," he said. Around 70 ultrasounds are performed, using four machines in the hospital. However, the heavy inflow of patients has extended the waiting list up to December.
The advanced radio diagnosis facilities available at SSL hospital are much affordable as compared to private diagnostics centres. While the MRI test at BHU is done for Rs 2,200, the same test can cost between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 in private centres. Similarly, other radio diagnosis and imaging tests are very expensive in private diagnostic centres.