Bihar deputy CM pays surprise visit to PMCH, expresses displeasure over poor facilities

|HT|

Bihar deputy chief minister and health minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav paid a surprise visit to Patna Medical College Hospital ( PMCH) in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday and expressed his serious displeasure over the lack of proper facilities including cleanliness as well as poor attendance of doctors at the premier state hospital.

Yadav has called a high level meeting of health officials on Wednesday to discuss the health facilities in state hospitals and improve the work culture in the state facilities.

Reports said Yadav visited the PMCH at around 12 midnight and first interacted with patients at general wards in the PMCH and also visited the Tata ward where emergency patients are treated. People familiar with the matter said the deputy CM was quite peeved at noticing dead bodies not being sent to the mortuary, patients lying on the verandah and lack of adequate toilet facilities in the wards.

“We inspected PMCH, Gardiner road and Gardanibagh hospital. The doctors were present in two of the hospitals. The condition of the Tata ward in PMCH is bad to worse. I got the information that people come here for treatment from various districts. I wanted to see what the problem is, be it related to the doctors or medicines,” he told ANI, after the visit.

Video footage of the deputy CM’s visit to the PMCH showed Yadav inspecting the doctors’ roster and expressing his displeasure over the absence of senior doctors in night duty. He even pulled up the doctors and PMCH senior officials, asking why ‘ doctors in night duty prefer to take long breaks for having dinner and ignoring attending to patients”.

“It is surprising that doctors come at 10 and then remain outside for hours in the name of taking dinner. Ensure that the doctors roster is maintained and attendance is proper,” Yadav is heard telling one of the senior PMCH official. He also expressed displeasure at the poor attendance of senior doctors in night duty.

He was also quite displeased at noticing stray dogs roaming inside the hospital premises, which attracts thousands of patients from all over the state, and pulled up the PMCH and security personnel. “ Whose duty is it to ward off the dogs . It is a surprise that dogs roam around the hospital and nobody takes any action,” he is heard telling one security personnel.

Further, the deputy CM also asked officials whether the CCTV TVs were functional or not and directed officials to give a report on how much time was taken to provide stretchers to patients by screening the footage. The complaint from patients about unclean toilets and lack of proper medicines also dismayed Yadav, who asked officials to take immediate action.

“There was no senior doctors available, nor was there an adequate arrangement of medicines. Cleanliness is also missing. Patients are not getting proper facilities. There is carelessness in everything,” he told newsmen. Yadav also said the state government will ‘mend the loopholes’ and shortcomings and also directed the PMCH superintendent Dr I S Thakur to take remedial measures at the earliest. “I have asked the PMCH superintendent to take action as it is his responsibility. There was no roster, no attendance is maintained. The lie has been exposed. Our government will plug the loopholes,” Yadav told newsmen after concluding his visit.

The PMCH superintendent could not be reached for comments . “ The superintendent is attending a meeting,” said an official.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)