Patna, Aug. 29: Less than two months after the “May I help You” counter was launched at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) with a lot of fanfare, a visit to the information kiosk reveals it hardly serves any purpose and remains poorly managed. Unskilled personnel provide sketchy details of the admitted patients, location of wards and doctors on duty.

According to sources, the objective of the kiosk, launched on July 11 this year, was to guide new patients and their relatives about information related to medical services. The kiosk has proved to be hardly helpful to the hundreds coming to the hospital.

Attendants coming with patients complained that even though the kiosk had been put up near the entrance of the hospital, very often it remains unmanned.

Ramavatar Singh, a resident from Darbhanga whose granddaughter is undergoing treatment at the hospital for past one week, said: “I was told that the kiosk is supposed to work 24x7. However, when I reached PMCH with my granddaughter here around 8pm after she fell off the roof, there was no one manning the kiosk. I had to find my way to the emergency ward on my own.”

He pointed out that he had not seen too many people at the kiosk in the past few days and the patients have not been able to utilise the services.

Shayantan Kumar, a resident of Masaudhi, said the persons at the counter were not qualified and could not even communicate well with those seeking help.

“Also, the kiosk does not have updated information about the names and details of patients or any information about wards in which they are admitted. The data available at the kiosk is of patients who have been admitted few days ago. If one enquires about a patient who has been admitted today or yesterday, these people do not have an answer.”

A guard on duty at the kiosk, however, claimed that they were doing their best to deliver the best possible services. “We attend 200-250 queries on a daily basis. Some people come here to ask about their relatives admitted in the hospital while others want to know the way to a particular ward,” said Jainendra Prasad, a security guard on duty. He, however, admitted that the updated list of patients was available at the counter only around 2pm everyday.

Hospital authorities, however, claimed that every- thing was running smoothly at the kiosk.