New Delh, Sept. 21 -- Concerns over staffing, patient care and facilities have been raised at the emergency ward of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, where patients and relatives alleged that a shortage of doctors and nursing staff was leaving them to manage critical aspects of treatment themselves.
Patients in the yellow zone claimed one resident doctor was attending to more than 15 patients, while a single nursing officer was administering injections and saline.
A 23-year-old patient questioned how staff would know when a saline bottle had emptied if a patient was alone and unable to alert them. Patients also alleged that nursing staff remained inside a cabin, forcing those administered a gelco to seek assistance for injections or saline and walk back to their beds carrying the bottles.
A 27-year-old woman described the emergency ward as "a fish market".
The situation also reportedly led to heated exchanges with security personnel over moving beds and empty saline bottles.
A resident doctor claimed the hospital had only five dialysis machines, forcing patients to wait a week for emergency dialysis. The doctor further alleged that patients requiring admission in such circumstances could be admitted only after signing documents accepting responsibility for the patient's condition.
The concerns raised by patients and staff have highlighted questions over manpower, infrastructure and emergency-care arrangements at one of Delhi's major government hospitals.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.