Sambalpur: How Long Will Burla Hospital Be Neglected?; Patients Suffering, When Will Public Representatives Act?
Sambalpur: On Tuesday night, an elderly resident of Sambalpur suffering from pneumonia was admitted to Burla Hospital in critical condition. She urgently needed oxygen. However, the state of the women’s ward was such that it was already overflowing with patients, with more patients lying on the floor. Arrangements were made to provide oxygen in a wheelchair. Late at night, after the situation was brought to the attention of the supervisor, a bed was arranged due to the woman’s critical condition. Unfortunately, she passed away the next day. This is just one example of the dire situation at Burla Hospital, where many departments, including medicine, oncology, obstetrics, and orthopedics, face a severe shortage of beds compared to the number of patients. Patients often end up lying on the floor in critical condition.
The situation in the women’s ward is particularly severe. During the rainy season, patients are forced to lie down inside the ward, on the verandah, and even on the stairs. In such conditions, patients come for one illness and get infected with another. Despite this, many patients are being referred to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar due to the lack of beds and other reasons. The 120-bed COVID hospital built at a cost of crores of rupees has been unused since 2022.
According to information, Burla Hospital serves about 3000 outpatients daily from Sambalpur, Balangir, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Sundargarh, and even Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh. Out of these, 300-400 patients require emergency care, and over 200 need to be admitted. However, the hospital has a total of only 1290 beds, including 300 beds in the super-specialty department. This is far from sufficient for the patients. Part of the cardiology department is being used for pediatric care. Due to the lack of sufficient beds, doctors are often forced to refer critical patients to other hospitals. The oncology department is in a critical state. Although it has been approved for 30 beds, due to the increasing number of patients, this has been increased to 50 beds. Still, many patients have to be treated lying on the floor, with about 25 patients regularly in this condition.
It was expected that the COVID hospital would be utilized for patient care after the pandemic, but this has not happened. Despite having all the facilities, the 100-bed hospital built for women and children remains unused due to technical issues like the absence of a fire safety certificate. During the COVID emergency, this issue was resolved, and the hospital functioned as a COVID hospital, but it has not been used since the pandemic was controlled.
Not just the shortage of beds, the hospital also faces issues like a shortage of doctors, equipment, and necessary tests. As a result, many patients are being referred to other hospitals. A new government is about to be formed in the state, with both experienced and new MLAs elected from Western Odisha, who are aware of the situation at this hospital. Patients, doctors, and local residents hope that after the elections, these representatives will address the issues of Burla Hospital and take steps to resolve them.
