The Pune Cantonment Board’s Sardar Vallabhai Patel Hospital has had no stock of the crucial oral re-hydration salts for the last two months. They also do not have stock of intravenous fluids.
The Pune Cantonment Board’s (PCB) Sardar Vallabhai Patel Hospital has had no stock of the crucial oral rehydration salts (ORS) for the last two months. They also do not have stock of intravenous (IV) fluids.
The hospital also does not have an electrocardiogram technician (ECG) and the post has been lying vacant for several months. This assumes significance considering that ORS is the first line of treatment to patients suffering from diarrhoea and dysentery, which are common ailments in monsoon. Poor patients who visit the PCB hospital are made to run from pillar to post as a result of this situation.
The matter is also ironical because the PCB hospital is planning to install three LCD Samsung 102-cm television sets in men’s and women’s ward for the entertainment of patients.
Reliable sources told DNA, “The ORS is not available for the last two months. The hospital’s medical store has put up a notice board stating the non-availability of the medicine.’’
When contacted, Dr SM Mahajan, resident medical officer of the PCB, said he was on long leave and was not aware of the shortage.
Mahajan said, “Yes, there is a scarcity of some medicines and we will replenish the stock soon. The decision to install LCD television sets has not been taken by me and it is being done for the patients’ recreation. We have also issued an advertisement for the post of laboratory technician.’’
One of the patients, Rammurthy Pillay, a resident of Ghorpadi, told this correspondent, “We get the ECG done for Rs20 in the hospital so we came here. However, after making us wait for hours, they informed us that the ECG machine was not working. In private hospitals, an ECG costs Rs150 and we cannot afford travelling in autorickshaws.’’
Similarly, a lady patient told DNA on condition of anonymity, “The doctors have asked me to get ORS and IV fluids from private medical shops. It is very difficult to do so, because I cannot leave my child alone in the hospital.’’
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