Dirty and torn bedsheets are a regular feature at Sadar Hospital. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, May 23: Patients of the Sadar Hospital are having a tough time lying on their beds.

The beds, they complained, were either without sheets or had dirty covers on them. And for those who had proper sheets, the beds were not safe enough, structurally that is. An angry patient was heard complaining that he had been there for the last two months but had not been given a fresh sheet.

As proof, he pointed to his sheet, which truly had started to acquire a different colour.?I have been staying in this hospital for the last two months and the hospital has not changed my bed sheet since then. I was diagnosed with a skin problem and ever since I was admitted here, the problem has only aggravated. The dirty bed sheets are, to a large extent, responsible for this,? said James, who had come from Khunti, in an irritated voice, when asked what was the matter. It may be recalled here that according to hospital rules bed covers should be changed every week.

Asked about the problem, hospital authorities denied the allegation. They claimed the bed sheets were changed once in every three days.

A visit to the male ward, Thakur Das, however, is enough to convince the visitor that the above claim was not very true. Patchy and yellowish sheets are not very difficult to find and some beds do not have that.

A patient of the female ward said she had repeatedly asked the nurse to change the torn bed sheet given to her but was turned down. ?The sick need a hygienic atmosphere. What we get here is just the opposite,? said Bina Devi with utmost disgust in her voice.

Civil surgeon Ashrita Kujur, however, defended that the only reasons for bed sheets not being changed, sometimes, could be the absence of the washerman and frequent water crisis. ?Otherwise, the nurses change the sheets regularly. There are more than 200 bed sheets in the hospital stock. It is untrue that patients are forced to sleep on sheets that have been used by other patients,? she added.

Another problem, patients cribbed about, was the battered condition of the beds.

Around seven out of 12 beds in the male ward, Thakur Das, are propped by wooden sticks as their legs are broken. Bandhan Ram Verma, bed number 12, male ward, said the legs of his bed were so shaky that he could fall of any day.

?I am recovering from a fracture in my leg and it seems I might suffer another any day,? he sighed. His wife, Ram added, had already suffered the consequences of the broken leg, (of the bed). She had sat on one edge of the bed and the weak leg had given way. She, however, did not suffer any fractures, he added.

?If that is not enough, there are no stands to pitch the mosquito net either,? complained another patient.

Asked about the matter, Kujur calmly said: ?As far as the broken legs are concerned, we are looking into it.?