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Almost a decade back, I met with a major road accident in Hyderabad, luckily, I didn’t suffer any injuries.
My cousin who suffered minor injuries was shifted to Gandhi Medical College Secunderabad (a Government hospital) for treatment. The bitter experience at the hospital completely changed my perception of Government hospitals in our country.
The condition at the Gandhi Hospital Secunderabad was despicable. There were no attenders to bring my cousin out of the ambulance. There were no stretchers to carry him inside. After desperately searching for a stretcher, we finally found one which was partially broken and completely rusted. Luckily, my nephews who reached the hospital by that time, carried him on the stretcher to the casualty ward. With no doctor available, my cousin had to lie on the stretcher writhing in pain for more than an hour waiting for the arrival of the doctor.
The condition of the general ward was pathetic. The place was overcrowded with patients and their attendants. Dust-filled floors, waste strewn all around and unbearable stench of filth everywhere. There were flies and mosquitoes swarming around. Stray dogs were roaming inside the wards freely. I threw up seeing the washrooms. It was a breeding ground for all diseases. It was not just a hospital lacking resources, it was a system stripped of basic decency and dignity. Looking at the appalling conditions, I shifted my cousin to a private hospital against medical advice as I was afraid he would come into contact with other dangerous diseases.
UNFORTUNATELY, THESE ARE THE CONDITIONS PREVALENT IN ALMOST ALL STATE RUN HOSPITALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
These hospitals continue to be the dens of corruption, apathy, rudeness, inefficiency, filth,
and lack basic facilities.
It is no surprise that, as per a Lancet study India was ranked145th among 195 countries for healthcare access and quality, falling behind even neighbours like China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. India spends considerably less on healthcare (approx. 1.60 to 1.80% of GDP compared to developed nations like the US (16.90%) or the UK (11.01%).
What pained me was that these hospitals were named after our great national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Ambedkar, Indira Gandhi etc., who lived in nobility and sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. Naming an institution after a great leader is meant to honour their legacy. It is meant to immortalize them and remember them with gratitude for their contributions to the country.
By allowing these hospitals to remain dysfunctional, crippled with inefficiency, callousness and corruption, not only are we causing enormous damage to the persona of these great leaders, but also sending a wrong message to the world.
A nation’s respect for its leaders doesn’t lie in the portraits on the walls or visits to their resting places on anniversary days, but in the credibility of its public institutions named after them.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.