Patients at Asia's largest TB hospital in distress as hospital is yet to start acquiring the diapers
The Sewri TB hospital has 650 patients on an average. File pic
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Despite the government's special emphasis on the treatment of TB patients, their care continues to be a much neglected issue. A look inside Asia's largest TB hospital – Sewri TB hospital – reveals how poor the care for patients is. A delay in sending the number of diapers needed to local suppliers has meant that for the past month, TB patients at the hospital are forced to use cloth, which is highly unhygienic.
Sushmita Roy (name changed), 37, has been at the hospital for the past two weeks. As she is extremely weak, she is unable to go to the toilet unaided and needs a diaper. But, because of the unavailability of adult diapers, she was relieving herself on the hospital bed until the hospital staff gave her cloth rags to use. "I can't reach the washroom in time to relieve myself so I was doing it on the bed itself. I lie in the mess the entire day. Finally, seeing my condition, a hospital staffer made me a pad from clean pieces of cloth. But, it is very uncomfortable," she said.
The hospital, with a capacity of 1,000 beds, has around 650 patients on an average. Of these, at least 100 are completely bedridden and require adult diapers. The hospital has an annual requirement of around 75,000 adult diapers.
The procurement of adult diapers is done at the local level by individual hospitals. All major BMC-run hospitals – KEM, Sion, Nair, Cooper – and 16 peripheral hospitals are responsible for procuring the diapers. The process is the same with Sewri TB hospital, but despite repeated complaints by the nurses and other staff, the hospital is yet to begin the process of acquiring them.
Dr Vijay Naringrekar, the medical superintendent of Sewri TB Hospital, said, "The process for the procurement of diapers is on."
Dr Padamaja Keshkar, director of the health department, BMC, said that she was unaware of the crisis, but would look into it.
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