Lift operators are often not present, money is requested for services that are supposed to be free, and there is a deficiency in adequate signage, causing patient families to be uncertain about where to find testing locations — the patient services at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital remain the way it used to be before the death of 41-year-old Arup Banerjee at the hospital early on Friday.
Banerjee, who took his four-year-old son for treatment at the government hospital, was crushed between the doors of an automatic lift that allegedly dragged him up and down repeatedly, with a part of his body outside, early on Friday.
Police said the preliminary postmortem on Banerjee had attributed the death to “poly trauma (compression of chest wall, rupture of heart, lungs and liver, fracture of legs, hands, ribs) ante-mortem in nature”.
Three lift operators and two security personnel were arrested, and the police booked them for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
A visit to the hospital by Metro on Sunday showed that nothing has changed.
Many patients or their relatives poured out their anger and concern about the difficulties in manoeuvring through the state-operated hospital.
‘Missing’ liftman
There are 32 lifts at the RG Kar hospital. Throughout Sunday, no operators could be seen near several of those lifts. Many patients and their relatives said they could not find any operator near the lifts. A patient said he took the stairs as he was scared to take the lift.
Sunil Mukhia, 35, whose brother is admitted at the hospital, said he did not see any operator when he took a lift at the trauma care building to visit his brother on Sunday morning.
“I was very scared when I did not see any lift operator while coming down. I panicked and used the stairway,” he said.
A woman in her twenties who went to the sixth floor of the trauma care unit, the same building where Banerjee was killed after being trapped in an elevator with his wife and four-year-old son, stated that there was a liftman present during her first ascent. The liftman was also there when she came down. Later, when she ascended again, the liftman remained outside and did not ride in the elevator.
When Banerjee took the lift with his wife and four-year-old son on Friday, there was no lift operator. There are allegations that the lift had been malfunctioning for a few days. No liftman was even seated outside the elevator to stop them from using it.
An official from the state-run medical college and hospital said all lifts should have at least one person sitting outside at all times, if not inside the lift.
“The on-duty person is supposed to direct and help patient families take the lift. They are also required to intervene in case the lift malfunctions,” said the official.
Demand for money
Several patients and their relatives complained that they had to pay ward attendants to push trolleys while taking patients for tests. This service is free, said a health department official.
Abhijit Das, 27, was under treatment at RG Kar for over a fortnight with a fractured left leg. Das underwent surgery on Wednesday.
Before the surgery, and even post-surgery, his family had to take him for investigations — ECG, X-ray and others. This meant moving him from the ward where he was admitted to testing venues. “Almost every time, we had to pay ₹100 to ₹150 to the attendants to push the trolley,” Nepal Das, Abhijit’s brother, said on Sunday.
Jahanara Bibi, 54, whose younger sister is admitted to the hospital with chest pain, narrated a similar experience. “She had to go for ECG and other tests, but the ward attendants refused to move the trolley if we did not agree to pay them,” she said.
“There is no provision for paying for free services. We keep advising patients’ relatives not to pay anyone for these free services,” said an official of the state health department.
Navigating the maze
Families of patients complained that they are often clueless about directions
after a doctor prescribes a test.
“The prescription only mentions the test to be done. When we ask the doctors and nurses, they name the building. As someone visiting the hospital for the first time, I had no idea where that building was located. If I asked more questions like directions, some of the doctors and nurses got irritated,” said a woman who has a relative admitted to the hospital.
The signage is inadequate, and there are no floor attendants to guide the patients’ families. Ideally, patient transportation is the duty of attendants, who do it only if they are paid, said family members of patients.
Jahanara Bibi, whose sister is admitted to a ward at the trauma care building, had to take her to another building for tests.
“I had to ask families of other patients for directions,” she said.
The available signage is only in English, said a patient’s relative.
“We have installed signage at all government hospitals,” said an official of the state health department.