The large number of dengue cases being reported from Rohini zone has left the biggest Delhi government-run hospital in the area overburdened with patients.
Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in north-west Delhi received 535 dengue patients till Wednesday afternoon.
Shortage of platelets at the hospital’s blood bank has only worsened the situation. Relatives of patients are left running from different blood banks to their family and friends to seek blood.
Ajit Singh, 26, brother of Toofan Singh, a patient admittedwith dengue at the hospital, was unable to procure A-positive blood despite desperately searching for over three hours on Wednesday.
“After running up and down the five floors of the hospital numerous times, doctors are now telling me to get blood from any private hospital. But they are not telling me which hospital will be able to provide blood,” said Ajit.
The blood bank at the hospital has been overcrowded with relatives and friends of patients coming forward to donate it. But it has not helped those patients who were unable to find the right blood group.
The large number of patients admitted to the hospital has meant that almost every bed for dengue patients is shared by two or more patients. But this as well as the fact that two major wards of the hospital are dedicated for dengue patients, has not helped in accommodating all the patients who have been visiting the hospital.
Parvez Alam, a 32-year-old patients suffering from dengue symptoms for four days now, had been lying on the floor in one corner of a ward for four hours on Wednesday. There were half a dozen such patients in the hospital, who were yet to be allotted beds.
“They have given me an injection and prescribed some medicines, but nothing apart from that. The doctors say I will be considered for admission only after my test reports arrive,” said Alam.
Dr Sanjay Choudhary, nodal officer for dengue at the hospital, said despite the large turnover at the hospital, no patient has been turned away.
“We suggest other hospitals to patients who are waiting to get a bed, but they choose this hospital. Our doctors are so overworked caring for these patients that some are themselves falling ill,” said Choudhary.
Highlighting the magnitude of the inflow, Choudhary said that by 3 pm on Wednesday, the hospital received 65 patients in the day. Around the same number was admitted in the hospital’s wards.