Medical Apathy: Sunday is a ‘day off’ for doctors in major government hospitals

It is almost impossible to spot any senior doctor attending the patients on Sundays in leading government hospitals in Srinagar, instead junior doctors can be seen managing the causality and emergency operations.

Hajira too, couldn’t find any senior doctor on Sunday. She was taken to city’s prime SMHS hospital when she complained of chest pain. Living in nearby Habba Kadal area, she was attended by some junior doctors who took much time in order to diagnose the issue and do the further treatment.

“For almost three hours we were doing rounds of SMHS hospital getting the tests done that were prescribed to her,” said Hajira’s son, Latief Ahmad, adding that “even after that they were not able to start a proper treatment.”

The family says that if senior doctors would have been present there the situation would have been much easier, as the family was later forced to take Hajira to a local private hospital situated on city outskirts for the treatment as she complained intense pain in her chest.

Her case is just a random one that was spotted when this reporter visited SMHS. There are many related cases that go unreported.

Sources within the hospital reveal that the senior doctors rarely attend the casualty and other facilities on Sunday, and consider the day as total off.

The absence of senior doctors adds to the miseries of all those patients who are referred to the major hospitals from different Sub District Hospital’s (SDHs), who are referred to Srinagar for specialized treatment, however, what they usually face is totally opposite to their expectations.

When patients are caught in such a situation, either they head towards private hospitals, or they stay put and continue to suffer.

“I was financially able and shifted my mother to a private hospital, there are many others who may not afford to do the same, they are suffering,” said Latief Ahmad.

Pertinently, insiders reveal that the authorities are hand in glove with the senior doctors as they never raise voice against the ill practice going on in the department.

“The administration never took any action whenever the matter was brought to their notice,” the insiders reveal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.