Hyderabad: The Jogulamba Gadwal district hospital, with the state’s third highest out-patient cases, had a 64 per cent staff shortage, the maximum among 33 districts, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on public health infrastructure and management of health services in Telangana. The report specified there were no sanctioned posts for pharmacists in the district.
The hospital had the third-most number of average outpatient cases per doctor per annum at 19,473, after Narayanpet and Utnoor. The hospital saw 93 patients per hour per counter as per the report, the highest of all districts.
Most significantly, the hospital saw 13.24 stillbirths in 2021-22, the highest of all districts and ahead of 2.88 in Medchal.
The report mentioned the absence of dedicated obstetrics and gynaecology (OBG) wards in the hospital. The patients are being accommodated in the female wards as the mother and child health centre is not fully functional.
Due to the lack of OBG services, the referral-out rate of the hospital was 99 per cent —almost all cases related to pregnant women and deliveries are referred to other hospitals.
Between 2016 and 2022, two maternal deaths occurred at the hospital but no review was conducted. "No specific response was furnished by the government regarding non-conduct of the maternal death review," the report stated. The hospital had no specialised operation theatres for cardiac, gynaecology and trauma care cases. It also did not have isolation wards for patients with cancer, AIDS, and even for infectious diseases like measles and tuberculosis.
The report observed that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for patient safety were not available in the district hospitals of Jogulamba Gadwal, Medak, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Narayanpet, Narsampet and Tandur.
The SOPs for disaster management plan for patient safety and monitoring committees were not available in the district hospitals of Jogulamba Gadwal, Medak, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Narayanpet, Narsampet and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri. As a result, the hospitals cannot prepare themselves for unforeseen events, the report stated.
