The ongoing lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, now extended to May 3, seems to have put the treatment on hold of many patients of ailments other than the coronavirus infection at RIMS.
With the focus on Covid-19, other patients are allegedly neglected. Also, many patients’ kin said senior doctors are missing from the wards.
A private electrician from Dhurwa, Ravindra Kumar, told The Telegraph he was passing sleepless nights at RIMS where his nine-month-old is admitted with a breathing problem.
“My infant son was admitted to the intensive care unit on April 6. When his problem aggravates, my wife goes to call the nurses, and they rebuke her. Finding a doctor in the ward is a challenge. After using my contacts, I managed to get Dr Hirendra Birwa to see my son on Tuesday, but after staying for some time he left saying operation won’t be done,” he said.
A resident of Harmu and driver by profession, Dhiraj Tripathi, said he took his septuagenarian father with a kidney problem to RIMS two days after the lockdown started but brought him back home on not finding any senior doctor at the emergency.
A 27-year-old labourer from Namkum, Shanker Lohra, outside the RIMS OPD said he was waiting for treatment for the last three days but had not been admitted yet.
“I am unable to walk but I am being told that do not need immediate treatment. They are telling me to come back after lockdown,” Lohra said.
Vikas Kumar of Garhwa said he came to Ranchi to get his 48-year-old brother treated. “He is suffering from acute stomach pain. At RIMS, they did some minor treatment and I was told to bring him back after the lockdown. But my brother still has pain,” Kumar said.
Contacted, RIMS director Dr D.K. Singh claimed everything was fine. “Emergency services are being provided properly and no complaint has come to my knowledge so far,” he said.
RIMS medical superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap said that at present 450 patients were undergoing treatment at RIMS. “Admission is done on the basis of the seriousness of the case when the patient reaches the emergency ward which remains open 24/7,” he said.
Private hospitals have also shown a drop in the number of patients. Director of Devkamal Hospital, Dr Anant Sinha, said that if 100 patients came to the hospital earlier, now only 20 do. “Making the journey is difficult for many. Only those critically ill or who meet with an accident come,” Dr Sinha said.
Media advisor of Bhagwan Mahavir Super Specialty Medica Hospital, Anand Kumar, also said that patient intake had dropped.