Lack of medical resources plagues patients at Sriperumbudur GH

CHENNAI: Many fatal accident cases have been reported in the area since patients have been referred to Chengalpattu GH due to a lack of medical facilities at Sriperumbudur government hospital.

25-year-old Gopinath met with a road accident at Sriperumbudur on March 11 and was immediately rushed to the Sriperumbudur government hospital where they referred him to the Chengalpattu government hospital due to a lack of medical resources. Gopinath died due to time constraints and a lack of necessary facilities.

“When we took him to the hospital, after providing first aid the chief doctor referred him to the Chengalpattu government hospital for treatment since there were no facilities for neurosurgery. He was in a critical condition and it took over an hour to reach the hospital. If the doctors had given him treatment within the golden hour, he would have been saved. We hardly found doctors and nurses at the government hospital in Sriperumbudur to provide treatment for the emergency case patients,” said D Uma Maheshwari, sister of Gopinath.

The industrial area has reported many accident cases and since there are no adequate resources at the government hospital, the emergency cases are shifted to Chengalpattu government hospital and it would take 1.5 hours to travel to Chengalpattu GH.

“Earlier, many snake bites were reported in the suburbs, and due to lack of vaccine death cases surged. After multiple petitions, the health department stocked up on anti-venom. However, referring the patients to the Chengalpattu government hospital is a never-ending issue. There is no manpower and facilities at the hospital and the equipment sponsored by the government and non-governmental organisations are not utilised properly,” stated Balaprakash, an activist from Sriperumbudur.

A senior official at Sriperambudur government hospital said in a statemen that it is a sub-district hospital and it is yet to be upgraded. “There are only six doctors and there are no specialist doctors to get opinions so they have been referred to a medical college and hospital. We are expected to get a CT scan soon, where 60 to 70 percent of referral cases will be reduced,” said the senior official.