Bone and Joint Hospital expansion stalled
Srinagar, Jun 29: The new block of Bone and Joint Hospital Srinagar remains inaccessible despite many deadlines for completion and inauguration passing by. The delay puts patients in unspeakable agony due to the constraints of space and facilities at the existing dilapidated structure of the hospital. The heat is aggravating the distress for patients as they find no space for their beds in hospital wards, already crammed to the max limit.
On the new year’s day this year, the Chief Executive Officer J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) announced that the World Bank funded new block of Bone and Joint Hospital is under trial. Undergoing a trial run in simpler works means that the facility is complete and the last minute and last step ‘touch-ups’. However, six months have passed, after many round-ups and touch-ups, the building is yet not handed over to Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar. And in absence of this space augmentation, the hospital staff has no option but to double-up corridors of the hospital as wards. The patients cannot complain as they find the wards full, and feel lucky just to be admitted at the only orthopedic hospital in Kashmir.
As the heat continues in Srinagar, patients swathed in bandages and plasters seethe at the hospital for want of adequate ventilation, and fans.
Their misery has gone unnoticed and ignored, they believe as Greater Kashmir spoke to many of them. “We are poor people, and cannot afford to get treatment in private hospitals. That is why we are ready to bear this inhuman treatment also at this hospital,” said a patient from Palhalan area of Baramulla.
As per the data accessed by Greater Kashmir, the 150 bedded hospital has already stretched itself beyond capacity and has an operational bed strength of 192. However the number of admitted patients is well beyond this capacity too. In the month of May, 1582 patients were admitted at the hospital, the average period of stay being 5-7 days. It is important to mention that Bone and Joint Hospital is the only tertiary care Orthopedic hospital in Kashmir and is the sole savior for multiple cases of trauma, road accidents, falls and other complications.
An official at GMC Srinagar said that the new hospital building is ready to be operationalised but suspected that non-payment to the contractors was the reason it was not being handed over. “There is a little pending work in Operation Theatres but the wards are ready, everything else is ready. In fact some exams were also conducted in the new building a few months ago and it was for everyone to see that it could be put to patient use,” the official said. He expressed frustration over the slow pace of public works like this that become impediment to effective delivery of healthcare. “It is clear that although we were able to get the funds from the World Bank, our own people seem to care less about making this money useful for poor patients,” he said.
The state of art facility featuring a resilient structure would be a breather for doctors working at the hospital and operating patients in Operation Theatres that “wobble” as per an official document. The building of B&J Hospital had been declared “unfit” post 2014 floods. Later, a fire devastated the floor of the hospital. However, it was kept operational amidst such gross infrastructure deficiencies. “The wait of patients and the doctors here does not seem to get over,” a doctor at the hospital said.
Mohammad Ashraf Hakak, Administrator GMC Srinagar did not answer queries on this issue.
