'Should push wheelchairs and more'; Bystanders should come prepared to Thiruvananthapuram MCH

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bystanders of patients at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College are expected to perform dual duty. Apart from taking care of their close ones, the bystanders also need to possess the strength to push wheelchairs and trolleys! If you expect the attendants or trolley pullers to come to your aid, you are mistaken.

Sindhu, the wife of Venu, who died after complaining about the delay in treatment at the medical college the other day, raised the same allegations. When she asked for help to push her husband's wheelchair, the attendants turned her away, saying, "This is not our job." It is a regular sight for patients and their companions to get stuck in this way at the medical college.

But the authorities claim that these are just isolated incidents that occur when the number of patients increases exponentially. The authorities do not take action against these staff, who are appointed according to the interests of political parties through the Hospital Development Committee. There is also a small group of generous employees who understand the patient's condition and behave accordingly. However, they alone would not be able to take care of the scores of patients at the hospital.

The doctors at the hospital face the allegation of not revealing the health status to the patient’s bystanders. The nurses make it far worse as they do not even look into the faces of the bystanders and often ignore all queries. If a patient who is tripping wants to go to the toilet, the nurse must come and change the cannula. Some nurses do not even pretend to see the companions who come to the nursing station to ask for this. It is a common sight in wards to see bystanders accompanying the patients to the toilet. If confronted, the nurses, in a laid-back attitude, would say, “How many people should we attend to?”