It was 8:00 P.M. I was home, reading a book when the phone rang. It was from the hospital. The casualty officer was on the line.
“Is that the head of ob gyn?” he asked.
“Yes” I said.
“I have been trying to get in touch with the resident doctors on duty, but none is available. Only nurses pick up the phone in the labor ward, and they cannot answer questions about a patient. The Lecturer on duty is not contactable.”
The whole thing sounded impossible. But I had to sort out the problem, whatever it was.
“What is the problem?” I asked.
“There is a patient related to a politician, of the party which is in power. She is admitted since morning for a cesarean section, but it is not being done. I am getting calls from the politician.”
“I will talk to the doctors on duty and get them to call you” I said. Then I called the emergency room, and found the Registrar as well as the House Officer working there. I wonder why the casualty officer failed to get them. I asked them about the situation.
“Sir, we have a line of emergency cesarean sections. As usual, there is only one sanctioned nurse and one servant on duty to help for operations on two tables.”
I knew that was the truth. One cannot imagine how, but right from the days I was a House Officer there, this has been the number of employees for running two OT tables at one time. Now the situation is twice as bad, because the delivery rate has doubled. I had put three proposals from 2008 to date, and all of them had magically disappeared in the black holes in administrative offices. My letter asking for the status of all of these past proposals was answered after three reminders and a number of phone calls curtly as ‘New posts cannot be created. You have to manage with the existing number of workers.’ I think we can be put in the Guinness’ book of records for operating on two OT tables at a time with staff for only one.
“Please call the casualty officer and tell him when you will be able to operate on the patient he is concerned about” I said.
“Yes, sir” she said.
This politician used his clout to get his patient operated on and moved on. I wonder why he or others like him did not use their clout to increase the number of nurses and servants for the sake of poor patients for who the hospital is meant.
