Five years back when the 240-bed Super Specialty Hospital in Jammu was thrown open to the public, it was said that it would take care of all the needs that other hospitals in the city could not. That promise though was never met as the hospital still has no emergency wards despite the repeated requests by the hospital administration to the government.
The patients in critical condition and requiring emergency treatment are shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H) Jammu. “More often than not, the critical patients are shifted by the attendants on their own as the Super Specialty Hospital has only one vehicle for the purpose,” a senior faculty member of the hospital informed, while wishing not to be named.
“Most of the times, the patients in critical condition are shifted to the GMC, Jammu, by the attendants by managing on their own in their own vehicles or in an auto as there is only one Ambulance available with the Super Specialty Hospital,” the senior faculty member said.
He said, “There is every possibility of the patient collapsing midway as the GMC is more than half a kilometer away from the Super Specialty Hospital”.
In case, if one gets stuck in a traffic jam while shifting a patient, the situation could be well imagined. He said, “The ‘golden hour’ which is very crucial for a patient in serious condition is wasted in shifting from one hospital to another which may cost him his life”.
The 240 bedded hospital has six vital departments namely, Cardiology, CTVS, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Nephrology and Urology. In medical terms, the patients related to these departments like the one with a heart attack or any other heart related ailment, the patients suffering from neurological problems and requiring immediate surgery, the one with kidney related ailments etc are all treated as critical, the senior faculty member said.
“But due to non-availability of Emergency at Super Specialty Hospital, the critical patients have to be shifted to GMC which is already overburdened”, he said. Meanwhile, sources informed that the proposal for having a hundred (100) bedded Emergency wards at Super Specialty Hospital, Jammu, was sent to the state government repeatedly by the concerned authorities but “there was no response to that”.
Former Principal GMC&H, Jammu, Dr Zahid Gillani said that apart from proposal of Emergency, a proposal for having a helipad at Super Specialty Hospital was also sent but “both were not acknowledged”.
The Super Specialty Hospital caters to the patients from the entire Jammu province right from Rajouri and Poonch at one end to Doda-Kishtwar and Bhaderwah at the other end. It was also felt that there should a helipad in the hospital so that time is not wasted in case of serious patients, Dr Zahid Gillani said.
“The proposal for Emergency and helipad were sent to the state government but there was no response,” Dr Zahid Gillani told Greater Kashmir.
Some faculty members also said that matter regarding need for having an Emergency ward in the hospital had been raised before the concerned minister and the higher officials several times during meetings “but nothing has been done”.