Hyderabad: Patients are forced to wait for six to eight months for elective surgeries at the ENT Hospital at Koti as the three operational departments are proving to be insufficient. The situation has been grim for the last one-and-a-half years and doctors are upset that no initiative has been taken to clear the backlog.
Elective surgeries like rhinoplasty, nasal sinus surgery, nasal polyps, cochlear implants and other hearing aid technologies are being scheduled for surgery after six to eight months. Every day the hospital has about 1,000 patients in its out-patient department and 20 surgeries are performed every day.
A senior ENT surgeon on condition of anonymity said, “Three units are functional. The government audiometer is not functioning for a year. The patients are forced to get the tests done outside and then they are reimbursed. But the huge number of patients and backlog is an indication that the hospital infrastructure must be improved.”
He said the hospital needed three more units to clear the backlog. “A waiting period of 10 to 15 days is fine. But six months makes the patients suffer. They have to be on medication and they have to come once in a month or every three months to be evaluated,” he said.
Each unit 20 doctors including associate professors, assistant professors and junior doctors who treat out-patients and perform surgeries.
A senior doctor said, “There are cosmetic surgeries. But we are not giving it priority as those with deteriorating medical conditions require to be treated first. According to the condition of the patient the schedule is fixed. Emergencies are attended to immediately but those needing elective surgery have to wait for long.”
Superintendent Dr S Ramakrishna told this newspaper said the administration was looking into the situation and had apprised the government. There is no ENT unit in Gandhi Hospital and the one in Osmania General Hospital also has a huge influx of patients.
