Doctors were about to start a hip surgery at operation theatre No. 4 of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Tuesday when they found that the operation table's hydraulic system, which helps in right positioning of the patient, had gone kaput. The patient had already been put on anaesthesia, so somehow the surgery was conducted. The surgeon, concerned over patient safety, refused to perform the other operations of the day on the operation table.
Another table on which neurological surgeries were being done had also developed problems three years ago and it is yet to be repaired, said a neurosurgeon.
A surgeon said at the hospital they were using surgical instruments that were eight to 15 years old.
Welcome to one of the premier government hospitals in the state, the state of which is an apt indicator of health care in Bihar.
An orthopaedic surgeon said last Saturday he had to cancel two operations in the same operation theatre (No. 4) as the height of the traction table (operation table) could not be adjusted.
"We sometimes stuck a piece of wood in the operation table to prop it up," the surgeon said, speaking under cover of anonymity like his colleagues who narrated the pathetic situation at the hospital to The Telegraph.
A senior orthopaedic surgeon said spine and hip operations could not be conducted on Thursday, thanks to the defunct bed at operation theatre No. 4,though five surgeries were "somehow" performed in the same OT on the same day.
PMCH has 19 Ots, but due to the pressure of operations - the hospital conducts around 60 surgeries daily - it is difficult to find a free OT.
A neurosurgeon said: "The neuro-surgeries are also done in the same OT (No.4) but in a different section. The operation table in our section has also been lying damaged since a long time but we are somehow managing."
It's not just one operation table that is defunct. Several doctors across departments said many of the surgical instruments at the hospital were very old and in dire need of replacement. "Instruments like rongeur, which is used for cutting the bone, have become very old," said a neurosurgeon. Doctors of the paediatric surgery wing said equipment that needed urgent replacement included toothed forceps (used to hold tissues during surgery), artery forceps (used to close arteries to prevent haemorrhage), and needle holder (used for stitches). A doctor admitted that during many operations they have to ask patients' attendants to bring minor instruments on rent so that the surgeries can be done.
"We ask patients to bring instruments like bone drill machine, screwdriver machine, wire-cutter machine, diathermy machine on rent," said the doctor.
Suraj Prasad, attendant of an orthopaedic surgery patient, said doctors told him to get instruments on rent.
"I had to pay around Rs 1500 as rent money," he said.
Hospital superintendent Lakhendra Prasad agreed that many of the instruments of the hospital had become old. He said the hospital had started the process of purchasing new instruments.
Asked about the defunct operation table in OT No. 4, he admitted that it was still dysfunctional. "We are now going to purchase a new traction table through local tender. We hope to get a new traction table within two to three days," he said.
Lakhendra claimed OT assistants in the hospital might have damaged the machine because they are in cahoots with private hospitals.
"I have transferred the OT assistants of OT-4 to other OTs. We have also initiated process of installing closed-circuit television cameras in all the OTs so that we can keep a tab on people who interfere with the OT instruments. It is suspected that OT staff interfere with the machines," he said.
