Guru Gobind Singh Hospital

Lack of an anaesthetist at Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in Patna City for the past two months has stopped all surgeries.

“We have stopped conducting surgeries since July this year as there is no anaesthetist here,” hospital superintendent Awadhesh Kumar Kashyap told The Telegraph on Sunday.

Before Apurva Dayal, the only anaesthetist of the hospital, was transferred to another hospital two months ago, the health hub used to conduct 200 operations every month. Four other doctors too have been transferred to other hospitals, curtailing the services of eye surgeon, paediatric surgeon and dentist at the health hub.

Around a month ago, the hospital superintendent wrote a letter to the health department drawing its attention towards the issue. “I haven’t received any reply till now,” said superintendent Kashyap.

Anil Kumar, deputy secretary of the health department, however, said: “No requisition regarding recruitment of anaesthetist has been sent to the health department by the administration of Guru Gobind Singh Hospital. So, how would the department know that such a crisis has occurred in the hospital?”

Those knowing the nuances of the functioning of hospitals expressed disappointment over the health department’s failure to look into the issue.

“Specialists of different disciplines — surgeon, anaesthetist or ENT specialist — all need to be present in government hospitals apart from a good pathological laboratory. When all these are present in government hospitals, then only the health department can achieve its goal of improving the healthcare scenario in the state,” said Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, the former president of state chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

IMA vice-president Sunil K. Singh said “The hospital administration should be given authority to make alternative arrangements such as recruiting specialists at the hospital in case of short-term crisis.”