Patients lie on the floor in the female ward of Swahid Mukunda Kakati Civil Hospital in Nalbari. Telegraph picture

Nalbari, March 19: A healthcare centre that graduated to a 200-bed hospital and infused hope among the people of Nalbari district nearly two decades ago, is in a shambles.

Shortage of doctors and paramedical staff, medicine, ambulances and erratic power supply is crippling functions at the Swahid Mukunda Kakati Civil Hospital in Nalbari. “Shortage of manpower, especially nurses, ward boys and doctors, is affecting services at the hospital. While the hospital rules say that the number of nurses should be 75, there are only 45. Doctors and other staff, too, are few, affecting services at the operation theatre, particularly during at night. We had to depute one doctor in the gynaecology department from the Chamata block health centre. Besides, there is only one medicine specialist at the hospital,” said Jatindra Nath Barman, the superintendent of the hospital, said.

An increasing number of patients has also added to the problem. “Ours is a 200-bed hospital but the number of indoor patients crosses 300. So, it is not possible to accommodate everyone,” he added.

The condition of those admitted at the hospital is deplorable, with many patients and their newborn babies sleeping on the floor. Purnalata Baishya from Nalbari had given birth to a girl recently but she didn’t have a bed to lie on. Kamaleswar Baishya, the husband of Purnalata, said some middlemen in the female ward provide beds against money to patients. He alleged that some staff have a nexus with these middlemen.

Hiran Kalita from Borajol of Nalbari district, too, had to take the floor of a dirty room.

Her husband, daily wage earner Bapukan Kalita, said, “We are poor people, I have no money. So I can’t admit her in a nursing home. We are here to die only.”

There are 50 beds in the maternity ward of the hospital, while the number of patients, in pre and post-delivery conditions, is 63, with 13 of them having to sleep on the floor. The situation is no different in seven other wards.

Shortage of medicine and the lack of an ambulance are putting the lives of patients at risk. “Patients have to buy medicines and syringes from other pharmacies. Besides, the lack of an ambulance is putting lives of patients at risk. As a matter of fact, there have been complaints of patients dying owing to lack of an ambulance. The health department has ignored the demands of the people,” a source said. Voltage fluctuation at the hospital, particularly at the special care newborn unit, initiated in 2009, is a problem as well apart from aspects such as poor drainage and lack of a boundary wall.

Lack of hygiene is also a factor with dirt scattered on the campus in the absence of a proper waste disposal system.

Nurses at the hospital are insecure in the absence of a security system at the hospital.

There is a police outpost in the hospital with one assistant sub-inspector as in-charge, three unarmed branch constables, three Assam police constables, a woman constable, and nine homeguards.

Nirala Das, a senior nurse of the hospital, said, “We feel insecure to even pass through a corridor at night as strange men loiter on the campus every evening.”

In-charge of health and additional deputy commissioner of Nalbari, Dipak Handique, however, said the complaints of people will be addressed soon. “I request the people of Nalbari to co-operate and help the administration build a healthy atmosphere in the hospital. The boundary wall will be completed before April 15 while the trauma centre will be revived with the Rs 1 crore sanctioned by the state government. Staff would be appointed within a month,” the ADC said.