Award for health but way behind in hygiene
EARTH NEWS SERVICE|
Srinagar, Dec 6 |15: The patients are allegedly forced to get treated in extremely unhygienic conditions at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS). Several patients and attendants Saturday complained that the authorities have failed to provide hygienic conditions to the patients. “The ENT building is in the most unhygienic condition and the patients have no other option but to use the unclean toilets,” said one of the patients who had come from Rajbagh to visit ENT doctor. He said that the corridors and wards are stinking and there is nothing in the name of cleanliness in the hospital. “The hospital stinks like anything. Though there are sweepers in the hospital, but we hardly find any cleanliness in the wards and corridors of the hospital. It appears the sweepers have been recruited for cleaning the doctors’ clinics only,” said Shabir Ahmad, an attendant from Baramulla. “It is difficult to breathe inside the hospital. How does this hospital treat a patient in this environment, where a healthy person can get infected due to the unhygienic atmosphere,” he added. Due to the unhygienic conditions in the hospital, many people prefer to shift their patients to the private hospitals, where they get better treatment in a hygienic atmosphere. Interestingly, Jammu and Kashmir had been conferred with the State of the States (SoS) Award in the health sector by the India Saturday Group in August this year, which was received by Minister for Health and Medical Education Choudhary Lal Singh in New Delhi. Officials of the hospital claim that they were doing their best and making more efforts to make the hospital cleaner.
