Bhubaneswar, Feb. 2: Cabins at Capital Hospital just became costlier.

The cabin fees have been hiked across all categories. While the daily rent for a single non-air-conditioned cabin at the hospital has been hiked to Rs 400 from Rs 150, the one-day rent for a double-bed air-conditioned cabin has been raised from Rs 350 to Rs 500. The rent for a single-bed air-conditioned cabin has been hiked from Rs 550 to Rs 700 a day.

N.K. Nayak, 45, a businessman from Patia, said the fee hike could have been justified if the hospital was providing better services.

"Getting a cabin at the hospital is a Herculean task," said Nayak said, adding that the cabins were in need of maintenance and repair. "The wall paints are peeling off and the air-conditioners often do not work properly."

Nayak said he had not been able to secure a cabin for his mother who was suffering from a lung ailment. "I recently visited a cabin at Capital Hospital where a friend's father was admitted."

Manoranjan Patnaik, 54, manager in a private steel firm and resident of Nayapalli, said the rent hike brings the biggest state government hospital on a par with private nursing homes and some private hospitals.

"But the similarity ends there. The services provided to the patients are far from satisfactory," he said.

Patnaik said while private health care institutions provide dedicated care to those admitted to private cabins, this is not the case at Capital Hospital. "Getting a nurse or a doctor to check on a patient at the cabins is a tough task," he said.

Capital Hospital started functioning in 1954. Around 10-12 lakh people from Bhubaneswar and other areas of the state depend on the hospital for their health care needs.

On December 13, 2013, plaster fell off the ceiling of the bathroom of a cabin reserved for VIP patients such as the governor or chief minister at the hospital. The 6X4 feet chunk that fell off weighed around 15kg.

Although nobody was hurt, it had exposed the state of affairs at the private wards of the hospital.

On March 29 last year, the attendant of a patient was injured when a chunk of plaster from the ceiling fell on him. The incident occurred at cabin No. 9 of the hospital.

"The private hospitals in the city have been cashing in on the shortcomings of Capital Hospital. It is high time the hospital improved its services," said M.K. Dash, retired cardiologist and resident of Saheed Nagar.

An administrative official of the hospital said the hike in cabin rent was necessitated to augment revenue. He said the cabins at the hospital could not be maintained properly due to shortage of staff.