The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Agonising wait for patients at Osmania Hospital

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Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Agonising wait for patients at Osmania Hospital

Swathi.V

Kidney transplantation means mounting expenses for the poor

— PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Sad plight: Sreenu from Guntur district awaits kidney transplantation in Osmania General Hospital with his wife and daughter.

HYDERABAD: Lakshmi from Karimnagar has been staying in the city for the past six months. She is here to donate her kidney to her son who is an auto driver. Unable to bear the treatment at private hospitals, they arrived at Osmania General Hospital, where the transplantation would be done free of cost.

“Initially, the surgery could not be performed as the doctor concerned went on long leave. Hence, the surgery due in December last was postponed as there was trouble at Niloufer hospital,” Lakshmi said.

Another date was cancelled after the Nayapul hospital incident. Meanwhile, Lakshmi’s expenses soared and she, along with her family, began working as a wage labourer in the city. She incurred an expenditure of Rs.70,000 for the repeated tests at Apollo, NIMS and Hyderabad Kidney and Laparoscopic Centre, every time a scheduled date was given for the transplantation.

Causes of delay

This is not just the tale of Lakshmi nor is it a stray case of undue delay. Long queue of patients, mostly from poorest of the poor strata, awaiting kidney transplantations is a regular phenomenon at OGH. The patients arrive in the city with families and usually stay at Ramnath Ashram near the hospital.

“Four patients died recently and I am scared to no end. One among my three daughters is suffering from heart disease. After surgery, I may not be able to go to work like now. It will be good if I die before the expenses become unbearable,” laments Sreenu from Guntur who has spent Rs.1.2 lakh so far.

The six to nine months delay in each case is inclusive of the lead time and administrative hitches. Despite the high success rate in kidney transplantations, the hospital lacks woefully in infrastructure and staff.

The latest delay is due to the absence of Dr. Jayaram Reddy, head of Urology Department. Sources say that he went on long leave miffed by the way media targeted him for a patient’s death, a presumption Dr. Reddy refused promptly.

“On an average, we perform three surgeries per month. There will be a lead time of three to four months for dialysis and donor tissue cross-matching,” he said.

Lack of facility

He added that Osmania does not have the HLA tissue typing facility essential for the transplantation and hence patients are referred to NIMS or Apollo. The facility, if begun at OGH, will save a lot of expenditure and time.

Drugs form another major component of cost escalation. Most patients are discharged long before surgery due to scarcity of beds and are forced to buy medicines outside.

The shortage of staff compounds to their woes. Urology Department has a vacancy of professor and another is due as Dr. Jayaram Reddy is planning to retire.

A proposal to appoint associate professors in the department is pending for long. There is no professor in the Nephrology Department and a post of associate professor is vacant here too. In the absence of Dr. Jayaram Reddy, a proposal was reportedly sent to the Directorate of Medical Education asking for independent charge for assistant professors to perform kidney transplantations, to which there seems to be no response.

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