With most hospitals, mainly government ones, unable to maintain hygienic standards and take proper infection control measures, people, mostly from rural Kashmir, visiting them are susceptible to diseases.
The president of the Doctors’ Association, Kashmir, said hospitals lacked proper facilities to prevent infections. “We don’t have infection control measures at public hospitals. There are no soaps in washrooms. Not to talk of patients, even there is no infrastructure for doctors leading to the spread of infections in hospitals. Even in the ICU and emergency wards there are all kinds of bugs,” said association president Dr Nissar-Ul-Hassan.
“The washrooms are not cleaned properly,” he said.
Patients say that in most of the hospitals a nauseating smell pervades in and around bathrooms as the authorities take no measures to prevent the foul smell.
“Though we don’t complain about the treatment, going to the washroom in any public hospital is like visiting a hell on earth. They stink to high heaven and those visiting these are prone to infections. Besides, there are no wash basins available to wash hands and prevent infections,” said a patient at a government hospital here.
All the city hospitals lack infection control measures and hygiene despite having observed several cleanliness campaigns.
At GB Pant Hospital, which is the only child care hospital in the Valley, there is no functional sewage treatment plant (STP) as of now.
“It has been defunct for the last many years, but now work has been started on it which will be completed soon,” said an official of the hospital. The sewage treatment plant at the hospital is being built at a cost of Rs 2.90 crore.
The hospital has been without any proper system for waste treatment and disposal. The high water table of the area aggravated the problem of waste water disposal.
The hospital authorities recently removed 13 truckloads of solid waste and 11 truckloads of metal scrap which was left here by last year’s floods.
“There are wash basins and hand wash available outside the washrooms, but we cannot make them available everywhere. And the infrastructure that was damaged by the floods last year is being repaired and some work has already been finished,” said Medical Superintendent, Shri Maharaj Hari Singh Hospital, Nazir Ahmad Chowdry.
