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Gruelling wait for patients

Unbelievable it may sound. But the long wait for patients who go to the Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), seeking a surgery, is a foregone conclusion.

A 55-year-old woman, who was advised hysterectomy and registered herself a week back at the IMCH, the premier health care centre for women and children in the Malabar region, would be operated upon only on November 13, 2007. Another person was told to wait till 2008!

While those who are diagnosed as malignant are accorded priority, the benign cases are placed in the waiting list, and in risk of a health hazard.

There is no dearth of doctors at IMCH. Shortage of anaesthetists and nursing assistants is cited as the main reason for the inexcusable delay.

Only three hysterectomy surgeries are conducted here a week. But more than 10 patients in need of hysterectomy come here daily. For the women, the wait is gruelling.

Maleeha Raghaviah

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