Patients get treated among Construction dust in Stanley

- Tharini Magesh

Treatments take place in the super speciality building of Stanley Medical Hospital despite the construction work that is going on in the building.

Stanley Medical hospital and college being of the oldest hospital and medical colleges in Tamil Nadu provides healthcare to the people of Chennai. The people who get treated here are mostly from low economic backgrounds.

The Super-speciality building of Stanley hospital which is located in George Town has a super speciality building that was constructed and opened in 2016. It was opened in December. but it as not used for any purpose till November 2018. The building remained unused for the use of the public.

Then the health care department of Tamil Nadu wanted to further increase the level in the building. At first, it was just a three-storey building and now it has been raised to a six-storey building as there was a need for more beds for the patients who were admitted here. This construction work began at the beginning of 2019. By this time some of the medical facilities like MRI scan, CT scan, Ultra Sound and radiography were available for the use of doctors and patients.

Due to this reason the patients who are using this block have to use this building inspite of all dust and sound that is created by the construction work. The patients who are already there to get cured could fall prey to the more serious problems because of this. The shifting of these scanning facilities could have been postponed till the construction is over.

“I have admitted my child here for a fracture and we have come here to get X-ray. Because of this dust, I have developed an allergy and I have to take medication for it now” says Selvi. It is not just the adults there are also many just born children who turn into this building to get scans and reports even they can get affected by the dust that is left everywhere in this building due to construction.

This shows the irresponsibility of the government and concerned officials in taking decisions regarding health care. It is important for the Stanley Medical Hospital to have more beds and facilities in the super-speciality block. But public health should also be an important concern. The facilities like scans that are now on this building could have been shifted after the building construction in over as it would have provided a hygienic environment for those who are getting treated.

Tamil Nadu is the third among other states in providing health care is providing facilities to people in an unhygienic way, then the health care of other states which are ranked below Tamil Nadu can only be imagined in conditions even worse than this.

Though it is a need for the government to improve the facilities and the number of beds it is also important for them to provide quality health care to the people of Tamil Nadu.