Bagha Jatin hospital on weeklong prescription

KOLKATA: Assistant director health services (Planning) Dr Satapriya Bhattacharya on Thursday quizzed Bagha Jatin State General Hospital kitchen caretaker Ashwini Giri, "What cooking fuel do you use?" "Sir, wood," Giri mumbled. "Are you sure? I saw coal being used," he thundered. As Giri avoided a glance, he continued, "You are supposed to use only gas ovens. Come what may, I want to see gas ovens tomorrow.Hire it, buy it, do whatever, there should be no excuse. Else, I will blacklist you." Sensing the heat in the air-conditioned chamber, Giri nodded and conspicuously slipped out.
Bhattacharya has drafted a seven-day mandate to "look after, monitor and supervise" the hospital. An official jargon, he admits, to make visible - and concrete - changes in a week. And he - along with Superintendent Dr B C Mondal - has been at it since Thursday morning.
Mondal reels out the doctors' performance reports (or lack of it) to a Sastha Bhawan higher-up over phone. Before he hangs up, he mentions as an afterthought, "From the list (of doctors) I just mentioned, eight will retire this year. Please also take this into account." Ironically, Mondal had tried to initiate a performance index of the doctors after he took charge on June 3, 2010. The reports didn't just end up pinned on the board in his chamber; copies were also sent to the Sastha Bhawan. Even a cursory glance at these make it amply clear that at any given point of time, no more than six doctors were at work. The sanction is for 20.
On the face of it, the chief minister's visit a day earlier had worked wonders for the ramshackle hospital. It triggered an immediate clean-up act. The hospital sported a spruced-up, neater look. By 10 am, the corridors had been swept, wards cleaned, garbage removed and doctors at the emergency ward swung into action. Patients said they were pleasantly surprised. Doctors arrived by 9.30am.
But will this resolve all that ails the hospital - conceived during former health minister Prasanta Sur's tenure - to reduce load on the M R Bangur hospital. Both Bhattacharya and Mondal hold no pretense, "It can be done. It needs better utilization of manpower and resources," says Bhattacharya candidly.
Mondal concurs. He reasons the chief minister's visit has forced the powers-that-matter to take things seriously. "If there is a will, it surely can be done. Not overnight, but can be done," he says.
For a hospital that lacks even an eye-specialist, a dentist and performs with one anesthetic, the change can't be immediate. The OT is used by three gynaecologists, an action surgeon and a general surgeon. But these doctors depend on the lone anaesthetist. So if the anaesthetist is on leave, the OT has to be closed down. Till the other day, even if all were there, the pulse oxymeter - used to keep a tab on the heartbeat during surgeries - wasn't operational.
For a person who'd faced eight transfers in his one-and-a-half decade career, Mondal shrugs off any suggestion whether he'll be taken to task by the department satraps, to guise their own nonchalance. After all, its isn't often that senior officers were sent to his hospital, demanding explanations. "Transfers are part of any government job. The chief minister's visit has brought this hospital under spotlight. Perhaps, I will be heard more," he says.