The State-run Fever Hospital (Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases) in Nallakunta was filled with children aged six to ten, many sitting or lying on the available seating arrangement on Thursday morning, around 9:45 am. Doctors were attending only to emergency cases due to a shortage of staff caused by the ongoing junior doctors’ protests in Hyderabad.
A long queue formed near the Out Patient (OP) registration, but many were asked to wait or leave as there were not enough doctors to see them. The watch women, overwhelmed by the situation, tried to manage the crowd by shouting at patients attempting to enter the emergency ward.
“No one listens when we ask them to sit down. Only critical cases are being seen by the doctors, but the patients don’t listen,” one watch woman lamented.
A middle-aged woman struggling to walk with the help of her mother, arrived at the hospital only to find that the queue was moving at a snail’s pace. Like the children, she was unable to stand for long but waited, hoping the doctors would eventually attend to her.
Fathima, a mother of a 10-year-old boy, shared her frustration with The Pioneer. “My son is feeling heavy-headed due to fever. He hasn’t eaten anything and is lying around, unable to bear it. We’ve been in line since 8:30 am, but we keep being told that the doctors are unavailable due to the protests. If there’s a protest, we can’t go to any government hospital. My husband is now looking for an affordable private hospital,” she explained.
In another case, a father rushed into the Resident Medical Officer’s (RMO) room with his 15-year-old daughter, who was suffering from fever and swelling in her legs. “My daughter was being treated at Niloufer Hospital, but for the past week, the doctors haven’t attended to her because of the protests. I was advised to come to Fever Hospital, but they’re not admitting her here either. The RMO saw her and said she would prescribe medicines and asked me to get blood tests done.”
Resident Medical Officer Dr Jayalakshmi of Government Fever Hospital acknowledged the challenges. “We agree the queue is huge, but due to the ongoing junior doctor protests, we are able to serve only emergency cases. There is panic among people regarding Dengue, but we are assuring them that most fevers are viral. Despite taking precautions, we are seeing new fever cases every day. Dog bite cases are also on the rise, with nearly 50 to 60 cases reported daily.”
Dr Jayalakshmi further noted that the hospital is seeing over 100 fever cases daily, with one or two Dengue-positive cases reported every alternate day.
Monkeypox special wards Following the orders of Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha to make arrangements for Monkeypox and set up special or isolation wards, Fever Hospital has set up one, whereas Gandhi Hospital identified the separate isolation ward. The officers are also looking to make medicines available at the hospitals. Resident Medical Officer Dr Jayalakshmi of Government Fever Hospital explained to The Pioneer, “We received the orders and most fever cases are recorded at Fever Hospital. So, we immediately arranged a special ward for the preventive stage. No individual has come until now either with suspicion of cases. Instead of panicking, when a case is positive, we have made precautions ready for attending such cases.” Dr Raj Kumari, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital told The Pioneer, “In regard to Monkeypox, Yes we have identified and prepared for Monkeypox separate isolation ward. We are on the job right now to make the facilities available at Gandhi Hospital too.”
