In a Kerala Hospital: Queues, No Doctors and Scant Treatment

Neymam: Rita Johnson, in her 60s, is bed-ridden and needs specialised treatment. Though she is admitted in a local government hospital, it is her husband who is seen feeding her through a tube.

Ms Johnson is admitted in one of Kerala's 66 sub-divisional hospitals which serve taluks or sub-district administrative blocks, but are defunct.

These hospitals are supposed to be the first level of specialised medical care in the state and have at least 28 doctors, with surgeons and at least four casualty medical officers.

But the hospital that Ms Johnson is admitted in doesn't even have one surgeon to treat her, according to records. So, she has been referred to a medical college 25 kilometres away.

This is the only 24-hour hospital for a stretch of 10 kilometres from Neyamam, in the rural outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. But it has no surgeon, no casualty medical officer and only one specialist doctor - a paediatrician, hospital officials say.

The outpatient ward is full of patients and queue outside only gets longer.
 "We came here early in the morning but it's like a fish market inside. We complained to the medical superintendent, but she says they don't have staff. There is no one to see us," says Nandu CK, who brought his son to see the doctor.

Dr Vijay Krishnan of Kerala Government Medical Officer's Association says, "According to a recent government circular, after a 12 hour night shift, a doctor is expected to work again the same day in the morning. This is inhuman."

The condition of the taluk hospitals in Kerala, most of which used to be community health centres, is perhaps explained by the meagre 1.1 per cent state budget allocation to healthcare, experts say.

But the government insists it is doing its best. "For now 124 posts in 31 taluk hospitals will be filled. There is a lot that this government is doing to meet the infrastructure requirements of hospitals in rural Kerala," Health Minister Shiva Kumar told NDTV.