Tough times for non-coronavirus patients in UP

With the country facing a lockdown and hospitals crumbling under pressure in the wake of an increasing number of coronavirus positive cases, patients other than COVID-19 are facing a tough time to get proper treatment for their ailment. The situation is worse for Cancer patients since most hospitals are not entertaining new patients for chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh):Even as the Yogi Adityanath government is working overtime to strengthen the healthcare facilties to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, the non-coronavirus patients are facing a tough time.

The general facility for out-patients (OPD) have been shut at the six major hospitals in Lucknow --the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), King George's Medical University (KGMU), Balrampur Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS), Shyama Prasad Civil Hospital and Lok Bandhu Hospital.

All these hospitals are now focusing on the COVID-19 cases which has led to the denial of treatment for general patients.

The OPD at the KGMU alone gets around 4,000-5,000 patients daily while the SGPGIMS receives at least 2,000 patients on a daily basis. The Ram Manohar Lohia hospital caters to around 18,000 patients a day while the Balrampur hospital count is around 2,000 patients. The Lok Bandhu hospital gets 1,000 patients daily.

All these hospitals are now admitting only suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases and offer emergency and super-speciality services.

Kiran Kumar, who suffered a fracture in his leg after falling down the stairs in his house, was turned away from the KGMU on Monday.

"I could not even get an X-ray done because diagnostic clinics are closed due to lack of staff. I am trying to get an appointment with a private orthopaedic doctor but most of them are not taking calls," he said.

The situation is worse for Cancer patients since most hospitals are not entertaining new patients for chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Abdul Hasan Hashmi, whose younger brother is suffering from oral cancer and was scheduled to undergo chemotherapy, was turned away twice from hospitals in Lucknow.

"We live in Sultanpur and I have been to Lucknow twice but no hospital agreed to treat my brother. If the chemo session is missed, cancer may get aggravated," he told a news agency.

He finally took his brother on a motorbike to a private hospital in Kanpur where the latter underwent chemotherapy last week at the cost of a whopping Rs 75,000 for one session, against the normal charge of Rs 30,000 per session.

Dental patients are also facing problems due to lack of treatment. More than 15,000 dental patients visit 700-odd private dental clinics, government hospitals and medical facilities every day.

President of Indian Dental Association (IDA), Lucknow chapter, Ashish Singh said, "Since dental issues are not considered as an unavoidable medical service or emergency, passes are not being issued to our staff. We are unable to run OPDs. We are treating patients through video calls, but not every patient is equipped to handle video calls."

Dentists also claim that they are unable to run private clinics because the staff is not being provided passes for the lockdown.

(IANS REPORT)