Death Traps:

December 26/2011: The death of a child in a private hospital in Cuttack last week, unfortunate though it is, once again highlights the shoddy and callous manner in which medical treatment is offered to patients. The young boy had suffered from some burn injuries and his doting parents took him to the private hospital for plastic surgery to remove the scars. On the face of it, this was a simple case, as no complications or risky procedures were involved. But that was not to be. Half-way through the `treatment’, the child lost its life. There is no word yet on what caused the death. Allegations flew thick and fast that the boy’s kidney was stolen as the body bore the marks of incision on the stomach. Organized racketeering in body parts across the country is so rampant that a suspected case of kidney stealing from a private hospital was enough to stir a hornet’s nest. The post mortem report, however, cleared the mist as both the kidneys of the child were found to be intact. Yet, the incident is illustrative of people’s complete lack of confidence in hospitals and recuperation centers in our country.

While a full-scale investigation would certainly reveal the actual cause of the child’s death, this particular case has exposed a serious lapse with regard to mushrooming private hospitals and nursing homes in our backyard. The owners, doctors and staff of the private hospital under the scanner have scooted once parents and relatives of the dead child suspected foul play and started an agitation demanding stern action against erring doctors and hospital authorities. Family members were joined by local Congress leaders who even staged a demonstration before the Collectorate in this regard. Now it transpires that the hospital in question was running out of rented premises, and that too without any license and registration. This is shocking to say the least. That an important set up such as life saving hospital could be run illegally would mean that it had all the patronage of officials of Health department and administration. Officials who are tasked to oversee that institutions and establishments run according to existing rules and regulations cannot feign ignorance when, among others, illegal hospitals and nursing homes flourish all around us. The present incident is only tip of the iceberg. There are any number of hospitals and what are euphemistically called healthcare centers in Cuttack and other places in the State operating illegally and without the requisite complement of qualified and trained doctors. They mushroom because they are hand in glove with those in authority who give them cover from above.

Such unrecognized and unregistered hospitals are nothing but profit-making death traps that are disguised as healthcare units. Unlike multiplexes and shopping malls, hospitals and nursing homes are not places that one would like to visit if one had a choice. People tap hospitals for health reasons, to save themselves, reposing faith in doctors that is fast vanishing because most of these men of medicine and their bosses behave like Shylock, squeezing the last penny out of the patient. Doctors are said to belong to a noble profession, but overtaken by greed they tend to forget the Hypocrite’s oath much too early in their career with the result that very few doctors truly qualify for the tag. This culture has encompassed hospitals that are supposedly manned by doctors, belonging as they do, more to profit-making industries than to a noble sector where service should be the catchword. Over the years, this culture has spawned a new crop of star hospitals, aka corporate hospitals, where few could afford the hefty bills. Everyone knows the pathetic conditions of the government-run hospitals where palming off medicines past their expiry dates or fan crashes and ceiling collapses are not stray episodes. Not to mention Government doctors’ uncouth behavior while on duty or in a large number of instances their prolonged absenteeism on some flimsy grounds. There is thus a void between the high-end hospitals and unhygienic and crude government hospitals. This no man’s land is getting filled by private hospitals and nursing homes promising affordable healthcare. Unfortunately, as vindicated by the Cuttack incident, these unscrupulous and ill-equipped hospitals exploit the situation and fleece by employing touts to lure unwary patients.

The recent AMRI hospital tragedy in Calcutta and scorers of others before and after, though of different magnitudes, should be an eye-opener to all of us in general and Government and regulatory authorities in particular that there is need for special audits to be conducted on hospitals and healthcare institutions across the country. It will not surprise us if such independent, impartial audits come up with damning reports in a majority of cases. In the Cuttack case, the owners and doctors may be nabbed or they may give themselves up to police. After a few days everything would be forgotten and the criminals would get away lightly. That’s the real tragedy.