The Hindu : Kerala News : Need to overhaul hospital system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 13, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala

Need to overhaul hospital system

Hospital infection which is rocking SAT Hospital has been detected in Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram also. What surprises the public is not how it happened but why it did not occur earlier. What should be done to restore the safety and credibility of Government hospitals? Our readers respond:

Fill vacancies

As far as medical colleges are concerned the posts of staff needed for the upkeep of the hospital have been remaining vacant for a long time. Furthermore, IMCH, Kozhikode that handles about 100 deliveries a day, has only two nurses at a time in the labour room. How do they manage? The actual nurse-patient ratio is 1:6. On the other hand, it is1:100 in many medical colleges. Consequently many problems may arise.

To solve this problem, first, the Government should fill all the vacancies at the earliest. Secondly, the Government should create more posts according to the need to restore the safety and credibility of government hospitals.

Lovelin Sunny

Kozhikode

Be diligent

Lack of hygiene in SAT Hospital and outside must have triggered the infection. Such cases were unheard of in the past. Employees, no matter where they work, must do their work faithfully with a total sense of a duty. Dereliction of duty is serious and deserves punishment. A loyal employee who has a sense of responsibility will never do perfunctory work. All employees, whether in public or private sectors, are servants of the public and not their masters. They should bear in mind that they have a duty to the nation and people.

K.G. Koru Kuttan Nair

Palakkad

Poor victimised

Poor people are not organised and, therefore, always victimised. Now, the Government has decided to constitute an infection control and sanitation committee. Proper disposal of biomedical waste is on the agenda. Let us hope that the Minister and the doctors are sincere.

There is an unholy nexus between medical companies and the authorities. The unscrupulous doctor-laboratory relationship is another case. Drug producers bribe doctors. Some medical practitioners commit mistakes in treatment in their haste to attend on a large number of patients who pay them handsomely. A Government committed to the welfare of the people will provide good hospitals.

U.K. Atiyodi

Kandangali

Clean up wards

The hospital authorities must vacate the wards once it is confirmed infected and alternative arrangements should be made on a war footing. Political parties, instead of wasting valuable time by way of dharnas and accusing each other, should organise their youth wing to clean up the infected wards in a time-bound programme. Unwarranted visits by VIPs and Ministers and protests to make political gain in troubled waters should be stopped.

The medical department with the cooperation of voluntary organisations should rise to the occasion to restore the confidence of people by providing services with men and materials.

A.K. Jayarajan

Ponellikode

Need for probe

Lack of hygiene and negligence of duty on the part of hospital staff members often contributes to the reasons for the spread of infection. The Union Government should constitute a team of experts, preferably from outside the State, to investigate the circumstances leading to such a situation and take action against the guilty. It will also help inculcate a strong sense among the hospital staff of the need to adhere to norms for prevention of diseases.

K.K. Kunhi Kannan

Koyilandy

Callous attitude

The blame for the outbreak of infection lies on doctors for their indifferent attitude and nurses for carelessness. Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy had earned repute as a responsible Minister when she visited hospitals and cautioned doctors against neglect of duty. If her ministry had put forward steps to curb such tendencies, disintegration of Government hospitals could be controlled.

P.M. Subair

Malappuram

Appalling situation

Infant mortality in the neonatology department of SAT Hospital is appalling. The State Government and its official machinery cannot eschew responsibility for the deaths. Attributing the failure of the Government to the private hospital mafia is far from facts. When more than 90 per cent of the State's revenue income goes to law-enforcing agencies and officials, the SAT incident depicts the indifference of the Government machinery.

Experiences are aplenty to prove the competitiveness of Government doctors. What is lacking are infrastructure and conducive atmosphere in Government hospitals. Public health should be given foremost importance by every government. The public health index is the yardstick of the development of a country. It is a fact that the Bush administration in the U.S. receives equal or more criticism on its medicare policies than on its policies on Iraq.

K. Padmanabhan

Payyannur

Needs credibility

Doctors who do not indulge in corruption should be appointed to responsible positions to check erosion of credibility of Government hospitals. The Government should also take steps to fill vacancies in all related departments. Scientific instruments used in hospitals should be updated and examined frequently to ensure safe use.

Farooq Mohammed A.C.

Malappuram

Stop blame game

When Penicillin, the first antibiotic, was discovered and put to use, we thought that man had finally conquered bacterial infections. But we soon found organisms developing resistance to successive generations of antibiotics. Irrational use of antibiotics encourages this.

Development of antibiotic-resistant organisms is a challenging problem in ICUs in the best institutions in the world.

The problem defies an answer. No individual can be blamed for this though it does not justify the callous indifference to unhygienic conditions in the ICUs or elsewhere in the hospital. Our Government hospitals are overcrowded with patients. If we allow too many visitors, it will hamper the efficient working of these institutions. Moreover, in the guise of visitors, miscreants hang around doing mischief, from thefts and "soliciting" to acting as agents ("promoters") to draw patients to private hospitals.

Dr. N. Rajan

Thiruvananthapuram

Increase staff

Statistics on hospital deaths in a tertiary care hospital should not be taken as a reliable indicator of a particular health problem because many referred, complicated and terminal cases end up there.

The cause of death may be multifactorial. Widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in many strains of resistant microorganisms, notoriously the MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Overcrowding in hospital wards with the resultant increase in workload and inadequacy of nursing care personnel aggravate the scenario.

These are the areas the administrators (Governmental) should look into. On the part of the public, we have to increase awareness of public and personal hygiene and cleanliness. Clinicians and doctors should take all available measures to improve hospital sanitation, try to install proper biomedical waste disposal systems in hospitals. Hand washing is the first and foremost precautionary measure one must undertake before any clinical procedure and even before and after examining patients.

N. Sundaresan

Former Professor of Pathology

Thiruvananthapuram Medical College

Overcrowding

Overcrowding is a main reason for the pitiable state of Government hospitals. Absence of a proper waste disposal system, cleaning facilities, etc., add to the woes. In this context, I suggest that the number of inpatients should be strictly restricted to the number of beds available.

Steps should be taken to improve sanitation facilities. The hospitals should allow visitors during the prescribed time and restrict the number of helpers. Required funs should be allotted to procure modern sanitation equipment, etc.

B.C. Unnikrishnan Nair

Ottappalam

Holistic approach

The core issues crippling our health care sector are influx of patients, acute shortage of staff at various levels, lack of basic amenities and poor infrastructure.

Bureaucratic apathy, declining commitment levels of staff, rampant corruption and unethical practices have aggravated the situation.

We need a holistic approach to make the best use of available resources.

Government spending in this sector should be based on a long-term vision. We need to integrate the facilities available in various taluk, district and medical college hospitals in the State.

If possible all MCHs should be made referral hospitals, so that high-end medical care is made available to the needy.

The Government should immediately assess patient load in all Government hospitals and fill-up vacancies on priority.

An attractive compensation package will attract and retain the best talent. The housekeeping cell in hospitals should shoulder responsibilities regarding cleanliness, waste disposal, and sewerage.

The maintenance cell should ensure that basic amenities including water/power supply are in place and all diagnostic equipment are in proper working condition.

Reghu P.L

Thiruvananthapuram

Kozhikode

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail