Mumbai is bursting at the seams and its public health care is nothing to be proud of.
dna on Friday surveyed the out patient departments (OPD) of KEM, Sion and JJ hospitals and found that apart from crumbling infrastructure, ill-mannered doctors add to patients' woes.
In every hospital, dna correspondents had to wait for three to four hours before they could meet a doctor. And then they were shouted at by hospital staff for asking innocuous questions. At the end, hospital pharmacies did not even have medicines that were prescribed by the doctors.
None of the OPDs has proper signage in Marathi/Hindi/English to help patients. dna found that patients not only from Mumbai or the suburbs but also from across the country visit these hospitals for treatment. Often for complicated cardiac problems or cancer diseases.
"There are no hospital staff in OPDs to guide patients. Resident doctors don't communicate properly," a patient at JJ told one of the correspondents. "We are even scared to ask questions."
According to the 2011 Census, Mumbai's population is 1.25 crore and counting. While the number of people has been going up steadily, health care infrastructure hasn't really made much progress.
The International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) estimates the city will have another million people by the next decade.
The Mumbai Human Development Report 2009 points out that about 21% of city households use public health services. This roughly translates to 26 lakh people depending on BMC and state hospitals for treatment.
KEM in Parel, Nair in Mumbai central and Sion on the eastern fringes are among the top-notch medical colleges and hospitals in India. They produce most of the country's finest doctors. But all three hospitals are creaking under the load of patients. Patients throng the hospital corridors not only from Mumbai and suburbs but also from satellite towns of Thane, Kalyan, Mira Road, Bhayander and Navi Mumbai. Expectedly, doctors are at their wits' end.
KEM, Nair, Sion and JJ hospitals see at least 16,000 patients daily. In all they have not more than 5,000 beds for patients requiring admission.
While the population is rising in leaps and bounds, doctors say the number of specialists is not going up simultaneously. "Since the 1990s, we have only six eye surgeons in KEM treating close to 300 patients every day," Dr Arjun Ahuja, head, department of ophthalmology in KEM, said. "We are severely short-staffed."
The BMC, the wealthiest corporation in the country, seems least interested in upgrading the infrastructure. In its Rs31,178 crore budget this year, hardly 9% was allotted for health.
"In the 1980s, about 30% used to be allotted for health. It is now down to a single digit," Ravi Duggal, health researcher, said.
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