Poor hygiene irks patients at Stanley Hospital’s OP ward

He said, “My sister had a baby just recently and she was extremely sick. There were no seats and the fact that the ward was near the zero-delay ward meant vying for space with emergency cases. She was extremely tired and the wait was excruciating for both of us.” An important healthcare centre for residents in the north of the city, the hospital sees several hundreds of out-patients (OP) any given day.

That was not the end of their bad day. The counter with Nilavembu Kashayam had no cups for use by patients. “I was told that an ayah would give us an extra cup. But there was no help and I saw an old woman picking up a cup from the dustbin and filling it with the kashayam,” he said.

The resident medical officer paid little heed to his complaints. “He said I can write my complaints on a book and left,” he said.

The hospital authorities admit that there has been some inconvenience. They said specialties like neurosurgery, urology, cardiology and oncology were getting shifted to a new building. “Once the shift is complete, there will be more space for movement among the wards for general medicine,” Dhanasekaran Krishnan, deputy medical superintendent, Stanley Medical College Hospital, said. He added that the zero-delay wards gave priority to emergency and casualty cases and for healthcare professionals attending to them. “Therefore, there might not be space for bystanders and others near the ward,” he said.