Health

Lone maternity, child hospital in Anantnag faces space crunch, operates from unsafe building

Anantnag: The lone maternity and child care hospital (MCCH) in south Kashmir region is facing a huge space crunch to tackle over-whelming patients every day.

The hospital apart from catering patients from all the four districts of south Kashmir also receives patients from Ramban and Chenab valley.

Located in a congested Sherbagh locality, the hospital also faces the space crunch with hospital authorities placing beds in the corridors to accommodate the huge influx of patients.

“MCH is a regional hospital. More than 100 patients remain admitted in labor and surgical wards of the facility every night,” officials said, adding at least five to six hundred patients visit the hospital OPD every day for examination.

“For such a huge rush, you have just two labor wards and four surgical wards besides the operation theatre,” they said.

Officials said that building in which MCCH is functioning at present has been already declared unsafe by the Fire and Services department.

“After the building was declared unsafe, the government planned to shift hospital to district hospital, however, political influence forced authorities to revoke the order within 24 hours,” they added. “Five years ago, the government decided to shift the hospital to Rehmat e Alam building from a local trust in Sarnal area of the town. However, the hospital continues to work from the unsafe building facing a huge space crunch.”

The hospital also lacks other basic facilities like a proper heating system in the chilling winter.

MCCH Medical Superintendent, Dr Mirchi Andrabi told said that shifting of the hospital is not in his domain. However, he acknowledged that patients suffer as the hospital is facing a space crunch.

“Due to the unsafe building, we are unable to enhance the facilities here. Spending money on the unsafe building will be a futile exercise,” Andrabi said.

Andrabi said owing to the fewer facilities with a huge rush of patients, most of the junior doctors resign within days after their joining.

“The higher-ups have been informed several times about the issues and hopefully, the hospital will be shifted in coming two to three months,” he said. (KNO)

 

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