PGI OPD gasps for fresh air

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

Imagine hundreds of patients packed in one room having no ventilation, for OPD doctors of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) it is a routine affair.

With thousands of patients, along with their relatives, visiting the PGI OPD every day, the patience of doctors and healthcare professional is put to test.

Last year, over 25 lakh patients have visited the OPD. If roughly one relative had accompanied the patient, then over 50 lakh people had visited the OPD in one year.

Sadly, the condition is not going to improve anytime soon. This year also, thousands of patients visiting the PGI will have to sweat it out in the scorching summer and humid monsoon season as the work for making PGI OPD centrally air-conditioned would take nearly a year for completion.

Dr TD Yadav, president of the faculty association, said finally the work for making OPD centrally air-condition has been initiated last month.

He said: “It was our long-pending demand. Not only patients but also doctors and the healthcare staff are facing a testing time during the summers”.

Due to inadequate seating arrangement, many patients are forced to stand in queue for hours together.

Ventilation is poor and patients complain of suffocation. There have been several incidents in the past where people have fainted due to suffocation.

Inaugurated in 2001, 14,000 people visit the five-storeyed OPD each day.

Ganga Ram from Hisar, sitting in a separate room along with other elderly men, said: “My son is standing in a queue. When my turn will come, he will call me. So many people have gathered outside the doctor’s room leaving hardly any place to breath,” said Ganga Ram.

Kavita, who was carrying her child in her lap, said: “Poor ventilation system is making it extremely difficult to sit. But we do not have any option. I have to show my son to the doctor and my husband is standing in a queue,” said Kavita.

Manju Wadwalkar, institute PRO, said in 2001 the OPD had started with air-cooling system.

“Honestly, we did not expect the PGI OPD will attract such a huge rush. The process of installing air-conditioner has started. It will take almost a year for the work to be completed,” Manju said.

A visit to the urology OPD on the third floor shows that the air-cooling system installed by the Engineering Department has failed completely. Fans installed outside the doctor’s room throw only damp air and add to the suffocation. The patients could be seen leaning towards the window to gasp a breath of fresh air.

“You are concerned about the plight of patients, who may have to visit here once in a month. Look at doctors and other staff members who worker under this inhuman condition from morning till evening,” rued a PGI employee.

Dr Yadav said: “We are hoping that the work of making the PGI OPD centrally air-conditioned should be completed at the earliest as it becomes difficult for doctors to examine hundreds of patients without proper ventilation and cooling in the rooms.”