If most government hospitals in the city were eerily quiet on Monday owing to the striking doctors, Tuesday was chaotic for many due to the rush of patients that doctors had a hard time keeping up with.
K.C. General Hospital was swarming with patients, keeping the doctors on their toes, with most doing overtime without even taking time out for meals to clear the backlog.
“I was in the Operation Theatre from 9 am to evening and performed four major surgeries that were scheduled for Monday, but which had to be performed today,” said K.C. General Resident Medical Officer (RMO), Dr Manjunath.
Besides doing pending operations, doctors at the hospital saw some 519 outpatients, whom they should have seen on Monday. “We had no absenteeism today, but yes it has certainly been a long day for all the doctors because of the rush.
I myself have had no time to even have a cup of tea since morning,” Dr Manjunath said, adding, “So far 11 surgeries have been performed and another surgery is underway in the OT. Since ours is a referral hospital, we treat cases coming from BBMP-run health centres as well.”
“We are expecting an increase in patient inflow as we did not see any in the ENT, Ophthalmology, Psychiatric, Dental and Paediatric departments on Monday. We had only 228 patients in OPD and some hundred cases in the gynaecology ward yesterday,” said Dr Vimala R. Patil, Medical Superintendent, KC General Hospital.
If doctors were rushed off their feet, the delay in consulting them was nerve-wracking for some patients like 28-year-old Padma, who was turned away when she was nine months pregnant and due to deliver her baby any time, on Monday.
Fortunately, she had a normal delivery at the hospital on Tuesday. “I had to come here again as the doctor treating me was not around on Monday. I did not know about the strike,” she said, relieved that things had turned out well for her. In all, six cesarean sections were performed on Tuesday and eight admissions were made in the labour ward.
For Dhanalakshmi, 35, who had travelled 30 kms to the hospital for an operation on Monday, it was a relief when the doctors got back on duty on Tuesday as her foot hurt unbearably. “I was dismayed when the surgery could not be performed on Monday, but luckily it was done today,” said the woman, who was back in the orthopaedic ward of the hospital after the hour-and-a half long operation.
