Chest Diseases Hospital gasps for breath!

Srinagar, Feb 22: It is a common sight at Chest Diseases Hospital Srinagar that patients on wheelchairs are carried in lap to the hospital building by their attendants while a few more attendants carry the oxygen cylinders behind them. For those with breathlessness, a common complaint of people visiting the facility, the climb to the hillock and the steep stairs is an exacerbating factor. All this could have changed years ago, but for the indecisiveness regarding the much-needed revamp of the dilapidated buildings, doctors said.

In the first week of this year, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Sakeena Masood visited the hospital and announced that the plan to shift the facility to the equally dilapidated building of GB Pant Hospital Sonwar was unrealistic and fraught with shortlisted approach. She said no such proposal, as had been announced before her Government took over, was under consideration.

The GB Pant Hospital has serious shortfalls that make it unsuitable for a Chest Diseases Health Facility, the most serious one being the shortfall of oxygen capacity.

Following the announcement, the Government sought report from GMC Srinagar regarding the issue of construction of a new building at Chest Diseases Hospital and directed the Medical College to examine the issue and furnish necessary comments to Health and Medical Education. However, given the pace things have moved for this hospital over the years, the report may not come by soon.

The project costing Rs 15.92 crore was approved by Government in 2019. The approved proposal included major infrastructure development. The project report states: In the Phase-I the much needed facilities have been taken into Consideration as per space available vertical expansion for 5 floors. The G+4 structure in the Phase-I shall be constructed and made functional with all support services the back up of Central Heating system and electrification shall be managed from the existing only till improvements and short comings if any shall be proposed in Phase-Il work besides Provision of ramp, lift facility has also been incorporated.

Doctors said since 2019, nothing apart from papers and proposals regarding the hospital’s overdue overhaul have moved.

The Health and Medical Education Department had announced in March 2022 that the hospital will be shifted to GB Pant Hospital. The hospital building which is under the dual control of Badamibagh Cantonment Board and J&K Government is grossly deficient in infrastructure and has been criticised for its design flaws, including lack of ventilation, parking space, and safety during floods and from other calamities. The shift to this Sonwar building never took place, however, mainly due to the reason that oxygen capacity stood at 500 litres, severely short of required 3500 litres required for the Chest Diseases Hospital.

The latest proposal to address the compromise in patient care at Chest Diseases Hospital was moved by MLA Lal Chowk Ahsan Pardesi . In a letter to Health Minister, he wrote “I was informed that new building for diseases has been approved but the work has not been started. The existing structure of chest disease hospital is very old and not suitable for modern medical practices. The present infrastructure poses significant challenges to doctors for discharging these duties as well as to COPD patients who have to climb up the stairs for treatment,” the letter reads.

Doctors working at the hospital hoped that the Government will put a stop to the trend of making U-turns on addressing the patient care at the hospital. “It is high time that they start working instead of just ideation. Patients are suffering every day, and they know it,” a doctor working at the hospital said.