In Bengal’s state-run hospitals, patients’ families often have to pull their own trolleys — or, in the worst cases, take patients to the operating theatre themselves — because attendants hired for these jobs are either absent or demand money.
The death of 41-year-old Arup Banerjee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, after a lift meant to be manned malfunctioned, has exposed the deeper malaise in state-run hospitals.
The problems are longstanding, and authorities are aware of them. Yet, for years, hospital attendants have managed to normalise inefficiency. Many patients stay silent, fearing reprisal, quickly learning that following the unwritten rules set by attendants is often safer.
Paying for basics
Patients visiting RG Kar hospital on Saturday shared their experiences.
Priya Samaddar, 42, paid ₹200 to an attendant last week to take her husband, Dilip Samaddar, 55, to the X-ray room on a stretcher after surgery on his right leg patella. “It was impossible for me to take him, so I did not hesitate to pay. I had to pay multiple times while my husband was admitted,” Priya said.
Similarly, Bijoy Chakra-borty, 49, accompanied his 92-year-old father from Madhyamgram, who had a pacemaker installed on March 12, for a post-surgery dressing. “We took a wheelchair, but it was broken, and I could not find anyone to transport my father. Trained hands or those used to handling wheelchairs could have done it better, especially for someone as old as my father,” said Chakraborty.
Operation theatre
Early Friday, Arup Banerjee was at the hospital with his wife and four-year-old son, who was scheduled for surgery. As in some state-run hospitals in Bengal, the parents were left alone to take the child to the operating theatre (OT).
A senior official from another medical college admitted that OT attendants often refuse to accompany patients. “They go missing midway, leaving the family responsible for transporting the patient to the OT, though that should never happen,” he said.
Bed numbers
Patients are also forced to pay for beds, said officials. “A nurse in each ward is supposed to send an updated list of vacant beds to the emergency. A doctor in the emergency should know the current status. Attendants, often in collusion with doctors, fudge the numbers and show fewer vacancies. When a patient’s kin pleads for a bed, one of them demands money and arranges it,” the official from a medical college said.
This situation is widely known. “Once a patient enters a hospital, it is the institution’s responsibility to ensure they are not inconvenienced. That rarely happens. Attendants are Group D staff, many recruited on the recommendation of local political leaders. Hospital authorities do not want to annoy the leaders and allow the attendants to act freely. The patients suffer,” said a health department official.
RG Kar meeting
Atin Ghosh, chairperson of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, said he would try to fix the loopholes. “Those responsible for what happened on Friday deserve exemplary punishment. Only that will stop such negligence in the future. I have demanded a meeting at 1pm on Monday,” Ghosh said.
Such promises, however, are not new.