Economically weaker class has no access to medical care in Gurgaon

20 August, 2012

A number of hospitals have come up in Gurgaon, which are, in many ways, are like five-star hotels. You get everything you ask for. Some of the chartable hospitals in the city do provide medical facility at a nominal fee of Rs 20 or so but they refer their patients, for various tests, to the chemist of their own group - who in turn, at the end of the month, oblige them with their share for recommending the patients to them.

GURGAON, THE so-called Millennium and Cyber City, with its global outlook, has hardly any provision for the economically weaker class, for their medical–check up needs.

A number of hospitals have come up in Gurgaon, which look and operate like snazzy five-star hotels. If you have the money, you get the best of service.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are charitable hospitals, CGHS dispensaries, and the so-called, for only namesake the Civil Hospital.

Some of these chartable hospitals do provide medical facilities at a nominal fee of Rs 20 or so but they refer patients for various tests such as X-Rays, and Ultra Sound to the chemist of their own group, who in turn, at the end of the month, obliges them with their share for recommending the patients to them.

Do you think any patient from the economically weaker section of our society can dare to approach any of the hospitals such as Paras, Max, Apollo. Columbia, Vedanta, and Forties, etc., where you are asked for to deposit Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh on admission. These luxurious hospitals are good enough for the capitalists or the officers who are entitled for full reimbursement.

Ultimately, people who can't pay land up to the Civil Hospital where after hours of waiting they are told to come again after a fortnight or a month - after getting nunber of tests done. There is no room and bed in the Maternity Ward even for mothers who don't have money, and at times, some of them deliver a child outside the gate or the ward. Even if you are lucky enough to get admitted with a pull and push through political contact, there is no proper nursing care. The staff and even the doctors are quite rude and irregular in their visits.

The neglected patients are once again at the mercy of the local doctors and private commercial homes, the so-called Nursing Homes, and raise loans to pay their fat bills.

Can the Medical and Health Department of Gurgaon and Haryana take care of the Economically Weaker class by monitoring the facilities and improving the infrastructure at the Civil Hospital and government dispensaries?