Sadness hung heavily in a modest house with a bare floor and unpaid walls. Outside, she looked up for several anxious faces as she got out of Navama, 20, lined with her aging grandmother Seethamma. Her father, Vishruthan, sat quietly in a chair nearby, asking her eyes.
Navami with a heavy heart offered a quiet farewell and walked up the stairs leading on the road, where the car waited for it to take it to the Government Faculty, Kottayam. She looked back at her house before she got into the waiting vehicle because the memories of her mother refused to leave her home.
NAVANEETH and NAVAMY, children of bindu, mourning in front of their mother’s body. | PHOTO CREDIT: VISHNU PRATHAP
Navami, last year B.Sc. Student nursing is heading for surgery. And it’s her second attempt. The first journey was 1 July with Mother D. Binda alongside. But the stay in the hospital was tragically shortened. Only three days later, in the morning of July 3, the dilapidated bathroom block in the hospital collapsed. The bind, who was a carer for her daughter, was imprisoned under a little. It took two hours to get her body. Until then, she was dead.
The tragedy triggered a political fire because the building has been considered dangerous for more than ten years. Opposition parties got into the streets and stressed that patients were forced to use it due to lack of equipment. After the incident, the bulldozer could not get to the place in time to save the bind; They pointed out and met the police and demanded the resignation of the Minister of Health Keraly Veena George.
The accusation flew strongly and quickly to meet the same strong counterproposals. But there was no appetite in the Navami house. For the family, no more than the devastating truth was that the bind was no longer.
“Everyone came. Ministers, parties and district collectors. They satisfied us and gave us assurance. That means something, yes … but we lost it,” says Vishuthan, his voice hard with sadness.
Before returning to the hospital, a team of doctors visited Navama to give counseling. A young woman who has already been evaluated by neurologists and orthopedics soon under the knife.
In the middle of outrage and questions about administrative failures, the worrying question that appears, what the famous model of Kerala’s health care is published. Questions are asked with renewed energy regarding patient safety, health care, infrastructure aging and labor shortages in Government Medical College (MCH) throughout the State.
Public health experts are afraid that insufficient investments in the infrastructure and human resources sectors are finally taking their toll. Haris Chirackal, Head of Urology, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital, the lack of facilities in the hospital, and the resulting patient suffering grabbed subtitles.
Minister of Health Veen George consolidates the family of Binda, who died in the building, collapses at the Medical College Hospital in Kottayam. | PHOTO CREDIT: VISHNU PRATHAP
His contribution, RAW with helplessness, hit the nerves with his colleagues all over the state. The hospital, the first MCH Kerala, has grown far beyond its current infrastructure and the availability of human resources. The department is expanding, the new equipment is added annually, but the strength of employees remains frozen in time.
“IT IS RIDICULOUS THAT THE CUMBERSOME AND OUTDATED PROCEDUREES FOR EQUIPMENT Maintenance and Purchase That Are Generally Applied To All Government Departments Are Brought to Bear on the Mchs Too, Because These Are Hospitals The Purchase of Accessory Above ₹ 1 Lakh, The File to Be Cleared By the District Collector, WHO Heads The Hospital Development Society (HDS). For permission, ”says one of the main departments at Thiruvananthapuram MCH.
“Instead of going on the construction and purchase of decorative equipment, the government should focus on early maintenance of existing buildings, equipment and equipment correctly to improve the quality of health care,” he adds.
Rosenara Beegum, professor of nuclear medicine and president of the Association of Teachers Teachers Keral Government Medical College, emphasizes that today health care is demanding and technologically based. “However, the government only invests in infrastructure and not in humans. What is the catheter laboratory (specialized medical facilities equipped with advanced display technology and monitoring) without anyone running it?”
Department such as gynecology, orthopedics and surgery, with a high patient load, did not see after years of creation. Frequent transfers prevent doctors from investing in a long -term and bureaucratic obstacle are even basic maintenance with a nightmare, he emphasizes.
Run machines degrading debris accumulated buildings in the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam. | PHOTO CREDIT: VISHNU PRATHAP
Even the possibilities of Stopgap financing will dry up. Hospital development companies are now smoothed in cash due to delayed reimbursement from Karunya arrogya Surraksha Padhati (KASP), state flag health insurance of the state. The government owes public hospitals incredible crore 1 203.59 GBP as a reimbursement of KASP, says public health experts.
The only source of income for the development of hospital development is a modest user fee collected for some procedures or CT and MRI scanning from the category of paying patients.
“Hospitals can no longer run only on government funds. We need functional autonomy and self -sufficient models,” says KV Vishwanathan, director of medical education.
“Funds are never enough because people hate to pay any type of user fee. A recent proposal to introduce an outpatient ticket of 10 GBP has been welcomed by harsh resistance. HDS must find funds to deal with waste and annual maintenance contracts,” he emphasizes.
“We can’t avert anyone,” Dr. Vishwanathan. “If secondary hospitals are not reinforced, the medical faculties will constantly overflow.”
Alappuzha MCH hit the workforce crisis hard. The posts of 80 professors, 10 associate professors and two professors lie free, including those who are on holiday. This is one mch in the state without payout.
UM KABEER, a member of the HDS, says patients have to wait up to six months for cardiac surgery. It is necessary to take immediate steps to fill the free contributions of doctors, he says.
“More than 1,500 patients undergo medical treatment daily as inpatient patients, which is more than the strength of the 1,050 hospital.
The story is almost the same in Kozhikode MCH. The hospital, which serves five northern districts of Kerala, processes 2,000 to 3,000 people daily in its outpatient ward. However, the level of staff remains stuck at the age of 60. Drugs and surgical facilities have stopped their supplies due to non -payment of accounts at least twice in the last two years. Although the stocks were restored, the fees were not completely cleaned.
In Kottayam MCH, however, the immediate problem is the future of old buildings. Will they be kept or demolished down? A security audit of the public work department is underway to determine the response.
The official sources believe that the existing block that collapsed was built in 1964. “The current rules for building safety will set a sufficient way to bring rescue machines around the structure. It could not be brought in time to start a rescue mission,” he admits.
With the constantly increasing number of patients, aging infrastructure and lack of funds and lack of labor, the flagship of state health shows symptoms of serious stress. Experts propose measures such as administrative revisions, updating the rules of purchase, financial autonomy to institutional heads and investment in human resources to revive the system.
Jose Chatukulam, a public health expert and the director, the Center for Rural Administration, Kottayam, notes that MCH is applauding the effectiveness of the crisis, spinned by restrictive practices and protected by an iron label of public affection.
“Even if the director and superintendent is going to the elderly, he should be supported by a professional team of administrators. Kerala will receive funds to invest in infrastructure, health and human resources in the medical sector,” he suggests.
Minister’s attitude
Veena George, Minister of Health, says that medical schools have received more than 3,500 GBP Crore in the last five years for improving infrastructure. “The period also witnessed the modernization of medical facilities, the introduction of modern equipment, improving quality in medical education and opening super-specialized blocks and departments at various universities. MCH are ready for a huge leap in terms of quality and top treatment.
“If the annual OP registration in government hospitals, including MCHS, was eight crore in 2015, now it is 13.5 crore, which in itself shows the trust people in the MCHS deposited.
“We are currently dealing with a larger number of patients than the current capacity of all MCHS together. We are adding a huge load on the system. All main medical faculties across the state have seen development projects carried out in the last few years.
Solatium announced by the government can bring some relief to Navama, who lost her mother in an accident. Thousands of patients like Navami are looking for Medical College’s government and hospitals to regain health and bounce to life.
