M A I N   N E W S

A Tribune Special
Mera Gaon Mera Gurgaon II
City’s sick gasping for help
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, October 12
Glitzy Gurgaon’s underbelly is churning out disease for the 25 lakh-odd population of the city and there seems no reprieve in sight. For, open trenches, stagnant water and “rein-less” mosquitoes are wreaking havoc on the people’s health.

To add to the citizens’ distress is one general hospital with 17 doctors, often juggling between court dates, post-mortems and training. Bogged down by “other workload”, treatment is a casualty. Patients seem to be the least priority as queues in OPDs get longer.

That’s not all. The health authorities in the district sit back in their chairs, seeking consolation from the fact that there are a good number of private hospitals which are taking care of the affluent. It is another matter that the patients are being fleeced by these hospitals in the name of quality and in the absence of fee norms. With the only government hospital ailing, private hospitals are quick to cash in on the weakness.

Those in the middle and lower strata are the worst-hit. That probably explains why seven-month pregnant Maharani has had to visit the hospital from her Patel Nagar residence to have an ultrasound and is still awaiting her turn.

“My first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.This time the doctor does not want to take any risk. She asked me to get an ultrasound done but the doctor keeps asking me to come back on another date, stating it will take time,” she says.

“The cashier cuts only 15 slips a day and the other patients are turned away. There is only one doctor and he, too, is at times busy with office work. Where will the poor of the city go,” asks Bharti of Naharpur, squatting on the floor.

Virender of Tigra village waited for a doctor to attend to his daughter bitten by a mad dog, but in vain. The Eye OPD has been closed since the doctor proceeded on training and alternative arrangements are yet to be made.

A number of vacancies exist in the hospital which has not managed to augment its staff despite the population increase. While the sanctioned strength remains the same since the hospital was set up, the patient strength has gone up from 88,000 in 2001 to 1.78 lakh in 2007.

Of the eight dispensary buildings constructed by HUDA, six are operational and being run in private-public partnership by NGOs.

“We have repeatedly asked for more doctors, explaining that the strength was sanctioned for a population of 35,000 when Gurgaon came into being in the 1990s. With a population of 25 lakh, we are struggling to manage the rush in the OPDs,” says a senior official of the department.

If the recent dengue outbreak in Gurgaon is any indication, the city could well be sitting on an epidemic time-bomb given the existing insanitary conditions.