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It took me nearly 4 hrs to get medicines for cough, cold

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Venue: JJ hospital

Around 9.50am, I reached the OPD with complaints of mild fever and cough. I could not immediately figure out the counter for registration to get a case paper. I had to inquire with at least three people as there was no signage to direct patients. I had no idea where to get my OPD papers made before meeting the doctor. It took me 10 minutes to figure out the queue for medicine OPD.
After spending close to an hour in the queue, I acquired a receipt after paying a basic fee of Rs10. It takes one whole hour to get OPD papers made.
I was asked to proceed to ward number 20 and, once I reached the OPD, I saw another huge line before me. There were 34 patients seated before me in a queue. After another hour and a half, I got to see the doctors. They are resident doctors studying MD medicine. They prescribed medicines for cough and fever.
Free medicines, ideally, should be available at a government hospital pharmacy.
To my shock, many patients standing in the queue before me to acquire medicines were being turned away. The pharmacists later said they only provided basic cough and cold medicines and that high-end drugs would have to be bought from chemist shops. Moreover, the pharmacists were rude and didn't respond to repeated queries on dosage.
After spending close to four hours in the hospital, I managed to leave. Close to four hours spent just on acquiring medicines for common cold and cough! Besides the waste of time, I was appalled at the unhelpful attitude of the pharmacists, who kept indifferently refusing medicines to patients. This was indeed a tiring exercise and something that would make a sick person even sicker.

What needs to be done:
There is a need to appoint social workers in the OPD to guide patients. Signage boards should be put up across the OPD area in prominent places in at least three languages — Marathi, Hindi and English.

Authorityspeak:
Dr TP Lahane, dean, Sir JJ Group of Hospitals
"We do have two social workers, along with two resident medical officers, whose job is to guide the patients but the patient load is immense. I will review the situation and definitely resolve the problem. Every six months, I conduct a meeting of junior resident doctors and suggest ways on how to communicate with patients."

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