Srinagar’s tertiary hospitals facing referral chaos

Srinagar: Tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar are facing a crisis of referral chaos, with thousands of patients from different district hospitals being referred to the city hospitals.

The most alarming consequence of this referral chaos is the loss of crucial golden hours for patients with medical emergencies.

 Life-saving treatments, especially for trauma and severe medical emergencies, are being delayed due to the referral process.

Health officials have also expressed their concerns and called for urgent measures to streamline the referral process.

At least 50,000 referral cases from district hospitals have been received annually at the tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar, putting an extra burden on them.

Official figures reveal the magnitude of the issue with Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura alone receiving more than 18,000 referral cases per year.

Similarly, Lal Ded Maternity Hospital handles over 10,000 referral cases annually, while SMHS Hospital receives about 3500 such cases.

The Bone and Joint Hospital reports that 18 percent of its patients are referrals, and 70 percent of the 850 to 900 cases in the Out Patient Department (OPD) at CD Hospital also come from different districts.

SKIMS data also indicates that, in addition to referrals, of the 800 emergency cases and 5,000 OPD cases every month, approximately 600 emergency cases and 3000 OPD cases are from different districts in Kashmir.

Over the past seven months, Lal Ded Hospital has registered over 4600 referral cases while SMHS received 250 cases and CD Hospital 200 cases per month.

Medical Superintendent, SKIMS, Soura, Dr Farooq Jan told Greater Kashmir that the hospital receives the maximum number of patients in the emergency and OPD Department from different districts.

Dr Jan said that besides referrals, patients were visiting SKIMS as per their choice.

“We are welcoming every patient from our districts to the hospital. We cannot deny the treatment. People come here with a hope. We treat them. We don’t have any problem,” he said.

Dr Jan said that the district hospitals including primary healthcare institutions had improved.

“So, to save crucial time, they should limit unjustified referrals,” he said.

The Medical Superintendent at Lal Ded Hospital, Dr Muzaffar Hussain Sherwani told Greater Kashmir that 50 cases of referrals are unjustified and 50 percent are justified.

He said that the hospital receives referral cases from peripheries as well.

“Despite having Government Medical Colleges in different districts. We still receive referrals. Our maximum referral cases are from Anantnag, and Baramulla districts,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Medical Superintendent, of Bone and Joint Hospital, Barzulla, Dr Mian Suhail told Greater Kashmir that the facility receives 18 percent of its patients through referrals.

Earlier, all the health institutions of J&K were asked to submit a monthly report of referrals from the Directorates of Health Kashmir and Jammu and the Government Medical Colleges of Srinagar and Jammu.

The government had also asked the hospitals to curb the practice of referrals as it puts a huge load on the tertiary care institutions besides under-utilisation of district-level manpower and facilities.