OPD footfall dips from 6,000 to 364 at RG Kar, drops by half at other govt hosps
Times of India | 20 August 2024
Kolkata: The busy teaching medical colleges in Kolkata that would have a sea of patients at their OPDs daily are now less crowded. While the slump in OPD footfall is true for all five teaching hospitals in the city, the number has nose-dived at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the epicentre of the doctors’ agitation.
According to health officials, each of the hospitals get between 5,000 and 8,000 patients daily, taking all specialities together.The number of OPD patients started dipping across all state-run medical colleges after junior doctors announced cease work from Aug 10, and after the two OPD closures on Aug 14 and 17 — the first by Joint Platform of Doctors West Bengal and the other by IMA headquarters.
On Monday, RG Kar recorded only 364 patients at the OPD and 12 at its emergency department. Of them, 30 required hospital admission.
“Before the agitation by junior doctors began, we used to get 5,000-6,000 OPD patients daily, including old cases. But with heavy police picketing and after the mob vandalism, very few patients are coming,” said a source at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital.
IPGMER (SSKM) used to get 7,000-8,000 OPD patients on any given day. On Monday, the hospital had just about 3,600 patients. “Though our junior doctors are staying away from work, all our senior residents and faculty members are making all patient services operational. But the OPD footfall has thinned remarkably after the RG Kar incident,” said an official at IPGMER.
NRS Medical College and Hospital on Monday had only 2,200 OPD patients instead of the daily average footfall of 5,000.
“Even on the two occasions of OPD closure calls, non-emergency patients who turned up were tended to by our doctors at the emergency unit. But the patients themselves are not turning up in that kind of number for more than a week now,” said an official at NRS.
Patients with diseases like cancer, cardiac issues, kidney failure and thalassaemia, currently form a major chunk of the OPD patients. “The significant dip in OPD patient count started a day after the mob attack at RG Kar. All our patient services are operational, including elective surgeries. But it seems the patients — who are not in serious condition — are reluctant to come to hospitals at present,” said a source at Medical College Hospital Kolkata.
All the five medical colleges have protest sites where junior doctors are agitating.
“The admissions come from the OPD and emergency patients. Now, with the dip in OPD footfall, the number of admitted patients is also gradually dipping,” said an official at Calcutta National Medical College.