Patients hit hard due to lack of infrastructure in Mysore

Mysuru, Oct 24: The 128-year-old Cheluvamba Hospital, which was embroiled in a controversy last year for alleged baby swapping, is in the news again following the death of a one-month-old baby due to alleged negligence of doctors.

The baby, Gautam, was admitted to the hospital on October 5 with septicaemia. According to the parents, of Saragur village in H D Kote taluk, the doctor who treated the baby did not specify the nature of the illness and kept assuring them that the baby would recover. However, on Thursday, Oct 23 morning the doctor informed the parents that the baby had died. The parents, along with relatives, friends and the public, staged a dharna on the hospital premises urging the authorities to initiate action against the doctor, whom they held responsible for the baby's death. However, they withdrew the dharna after the Superintendent of the hospital, Krishnamurthy, assured them of an inquiry into the incident.

The protesters alleged that patients were not being treated properly in the hospital and they were being forced to sleep on beds laid on the floor. They urged the authorities concerned to improve the infrastructure in the hospital.

When contacted, Dr. Krishnamurthy said that condition of the baby was 'bad' when it was brought to the hospital with septicaemia, he said and added that the doctor made all efforts to save it. However, the baby developed multiple complications because of the infection and died owing to renal failure, Dr. Krishnamurthy said.

He said that the hospital lacked adequate number of beds and this had forced the authorities to ask patients to sleep on beds laid on the floor.

“We get over 40 patients every day, and it is difficult to provide beds for everyone. We need 100 more beds along with support staff," he said. Dr. Krishnamurthy said that the authorities were yet to get a response to a proposal sent to the Government in this regard a year ago.

The hospital has 400 beds.

Built in 1880, the 24-bed hospital was then called Vani Vilas Hospital. It was upgraded into a 200-bed hospital in 1939 and named Cheluvamba Hospital.

The hospital got a women and children block when it was expanded in 1954. The new OPD block was built in 1997, according to a senior doctor who did not want to be identified.
Heritage structure

Further expansion of the three-storeyed hospital building would be difficult as it was a heritage structure, he said and added that a new building had to be constructed to meet the growing demand.

OneIndia News