Exclusive: Plight of JJ hospital amid COVID pandemic: No gloves, needles, saline or key drugs

The Emergency ward at JJ Hospital runs out of supplies faster than other wards

In the middle of a pandemic, when hospitals are supposed to take utmost precautions and be a safe haven, the state government-run JJ Hospital has been facing a shortage of the most basic necessities such as gloves, needles, threads for sutures, saline and drugs for malaria and asthma medication. Doctors claim that the situation, prevailing for over three weeks, has forced them to carry out blood collection and intubation in the Emergency ward without wearing gloves.

The Not-in-Stock (NS) drugs and materials are resulting in patients' families having to buy them from outside. Malfunctioning laryngoscopes, too, have been a constant issue.

A doctor puts a cast without gloves

A senior doctor at JJ Hospital said, "There can always be a shortage of one or two things that we can handle, but the shortage of even the most basic medical equipment, over a long period of time, has been affecting us. Some wards don't have needles, gloves and drugs for malaria, seizures, asthma and nebulisation. We are asking patients' families to get the equipment. The government is supposed to have everything in stock and it is supposed to be given free to patients. Families incur an expenditure of Rs 300-400."

‘Emergency ward hit hard'

According to the doctor, the shortage affects the hospital's Emergency ward (ward no. 4) the most, where time is of the essence. "It is much worse in Emergency because we run out of supplies very fast. This can be dealt with in other normal wards, but not in the Emergency ward. If someone needs to be put on the ventilator and there is no tracheal tube, the patient will definitely die while the doctor writes a prescription and asks the family to get the supplies."

A medical worker collects blood

‘Intubated without gloves'

mid-day has the list of ‘NS Drugs and Materials in Wd-4'. The list includes sterile gloves, examination gloves, plastic gloves, EDTA bulbs, five different types of needles and surgical blades. Drugs such as Avil, Falcigo, and Buscopan are out of stock.

A doctor at the Emergency ward, who had to intubate a patient with his bare hands, said, "Patients coming in shock (low blood pressure) who need urgent fluid resuscitation are forced to get saline from outside. There are no gloves. Resident doctors have to work with bare hands if patients are not able to bring gloves. This exposes the doctors to infection, compromises the safety of patients and cross-contamination increases. There have been instances when surgery and orthopaedic residents dressed wounds or applied casts without wearing gloves."

The rack in the Emergency ward at JJ Hospital where supplies are kept

"There is also the issue of malfunctioning laryngoscopes," said the doctor. "Intubation is an urgent life-saving procedure that requires a laryngoscope to see the airway. Even a minute's delay can be the difference between life and death. The lights in our laryngoscopy blades have not been working efficiently."

According to the doctor, this acute shortage did not happen overnight. "Doctors have had to clean wounds and prep patients for surgery without gloves. I have intubated patients with my bare hands. There are times when adrenalin, a drug needed for patients with extremely weak pulse, is absent. The shortage was an on-and-off thing earlier but now it has been extending for weeks."

A malfunctioning laryngoscopy blade

The doctor added that senior resident doctors wrote to the admin, but there has been no response so far. "The admin wing's job is to arrange the necessary equipment. I don't see any specific reason as to why these are not available, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, at the biggest government-run college in Maharashtra," the doctor said.

Dr Ranjit Mankeshwar, dean of JJ Hospital, said: "We have a budget for consumables. At the moment, we have handed over 90 per cent of our budget to an institute, which is supposed to do centralised purchase for the medical education department and health. The institute has not supplied us with the necessary material, and the remaining 10 per cent of our budget has already been spent. This is why there is a shortage."

Dr Mankeshwar added, "We have asked the government for permission to use other grants."

Dr Mankeshwar added that the shortage has been prevailing for around 10 days, and not for three weeks. When asked about the situation at the Emergency ward, he said: "It does create a problem and we are trying to combat it by raising funds. Hopefully, we should ride out this crunch in 15 days."

90%
Proportion of the budget JJ Hospital gave institute for buying supplies

Rs 400
Approx. amount spent by patients' families on supplies from outside