HEALTH

A hospital burdened with abandoned patients
By Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — A couple of months back, an unconscious person, lying on the roadside was picked up by the police and admitted to the emergency at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Sector 32. The hospital treated and looked after him for more than two weeks.

When the person recovered, he was discharged by the hospital and asked to leave. However, feigning amnesia, he told the authorities that neither did he remember his name, nor where he lived.

The GMCH authorities were at their wits end, not knowing what to do with the patient. In the meantime, he was also given psychiatric and other medical aid to help him “remember”. More than a couple of times, the hospital arranged for his transportation and fare back home. But each time, he would refuse to leave at the last moment.

He is not the only problematic patient. GMCH has received more than six patients like him, in the past six months.

According to Prof S.P.Dheer, Medical Superintendent, GMCH, the hospital regularly gets abandoned patients. “At times, even relatives leave family members to die when told that the patient’s condition is beyond medical help. A boy abandoned his father to die all alone, when the latter was diagnosed with terminal renal failure.

Then there was this pregnant lady, who delivered in the hospital. We wasted hours driving her around to locate her house. But since she was getting food and shelter without the disadvantage of a husband who used to beat her up regularly, she never gave us her correct address.”

Prof Dheer says that to rehabilitate these cases, the hospital, in the past, tried to approach social workers and organisations, but did not receive any help.

“At times, abandoned patients are also mentally ill. We are not really equipped for such patients,” says Prof Dheer. “Not only do they break furniture and damage hospital property, they may cause serious harm to other patients as well. We even asked the mental hospital at Amritsar to take in a couple of patients, but did not receive any reply.”

Since a hospital is supposed to look after a patient medically, abandoned cases, after recovery, should be taken care of by social organisations. “Ideally, such organisations should be in constant touch with us. Whenever, we get such patients we should be able to contact these organisations for further management,” says Prof Dheer.

“The problem is that these patients are a burden on hospital resources,” explains Prof Dheer. “Not only do they keep hospital beds occupied, but also divide the attention of doctors and nursing staff.

Abandoned patients have to be accommodated with normal ones. Keeping in mind the expenditure on hospital bed, nursing care, medicines, food and laundry, we are spending a minimum of Rs 500 on these patients. A sum which could be spent on some other needy patient,” he adds.

SPORT

India’s sole hope in figure skating
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — Meet Sweta Dattani (17) from Mumbai and current national champion in artistic free and figure skating was here in connection with the ongoing 46th National School Games in roller skating being held at Panchkula. The tall and lanky Sweta is not getting any domestic competition in her age group event though since 1997 she has been taking part in Asian and other world-level competitions. At National School Games, Sweta was eligible for under-19 category but there was no other competitor in her event. From December 14 she will be taking part in the National Skating Meet at Faridabad and she fears that there also she might be the sole entry. While in India there were only two other girls in her age group but they were in science subjects and were not coming to participate, she said.

Sweta first took to tennis and badminton at inter-school level, then in speed and artistic skating and finally excelled in free and figure skating. She took initial training from Nikhil Narayan and later joined the BRSA fellowship programme to go for advanced training and now she was getting training in artistic skating from Smita Sheth and Jaspal Khorana at Mumbai.

She said that last year at the 37th National Skating Meet at Chandigarh, she was not allowed to compete since no other had put entry into her age group. She regretted that girls in India were not interested in artistic skating.

Sweta participated in an international event first time in 1997, when she represented India in the 7th Asian Skating Meet in Korea in artistic category, followed by the World Junior Artistics Meet at Australia in 1999 and then recently in September this year, when she went to take part in the Vth World Junior Artistic Meet in figure skating in USA.

Sweta said in India they do not have much exposure and moreover, formal training was also not available. She was happy that next week French artistic coach, Stella, will be taking a camp at Faridabad for a week. Sweta, a Class XII student of HR College, Churchgate, Mumbai, was preparing hard for the forthcoming Asian Meet in Taipei next year and in the World Junior Artistic Meet in Italy. She opines that the Government of India must encourage this game by giving financial support to the players as now the players take part in the national and international meets at their own expense. 

Dev Samaj College basketball champs
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — The Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, Chandigarh, won the Panjab University inter-college basketball 'B' division (women) championship which concluded on the university campus, while the GTB National College, Dakha, got the second position.

In the Panjab University inter-college cricket tournament also held here, GGD SD College, Abohar, beat DAV College, Abohar, by 10 wickets, Arya College, Ludhiana, beat GGN Khalsa College, Ludhiana, by seven wickets and DAV College, Chandigarh, beat Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, by 338 runs.