Outsourcing

“Sir, the ultrasonography services for outpatients are closed” my resident informed me. “Why?” I asked. “There is a notice which says so. The reason is that they have no machines and no probes. This patient just came back saying they have sent her away even though she had an appointment for today. She is due to deliver in a week's time. New patients are being sent away without any appointment.” Just then a hospital employee arrived with an ultrasonography report. She was 11 weeks pregnant. I checked the date. It was the same day. “When did you get this done?” I asked. “Just now” she said. “Actually they did it twice today. The first time was not so satisfactory.” I was surprised. I rang up the department. The most senior person present was a resident doctor. He gave me a number where his seniors would be present, he said. I rang up that number. The resident doctor there informed me that no staff member was present there. He said the ultrasonic scan I was referring to must have been done by the senior sonologist as a special case for the hospital employee. “What about the patients for whom the hospital was meant to work?” I asked. He did not have an answer to that one. He did not know where his seniors were. I rang up the head of their department. He was not there as well. I did not know what to do. A couple of hours passed while I examined other patients. Then one patient came along with an ultrasonography report. It had been done the same day, in a center right across the road from us. I had a weird feeling about the whole thing. “Why did you do this ultrasonography at this center?” I asked her. “They have stopped doing it in this hospital for an indefinite period” she answered. “But how did you know about this center? I myself did not know about it” I said. “A person in that department told my husband it was at this place across the road” she said. “He said it was owned by a doctor who was trained in the same department.” Since none of the seniors in that department were available, I could not ask anyone for an explanation. Since the patients were not complaining about the outsourcing, I did not know if I should really be asking for any explanations.