Official apathy adds to patients’ agony

Administrative apathy in solving a dispute between doctors and nurses of the Ratnapura Hospital, that dragged on for about two weeks, left a trail of suffering for hapless patients, with three people also dying.

Work in this hospital that usually performs around 50 general surgeries, 8-10 planned surgeries and 4-5 emergencies on a daily basis, came to a standstill following an incident on April 25 where a male nurse had allegedly verbally abused a female intern doctor. The doctor was the house officer at the male surgical ward No 6.

Although the Establishments Code pertaining to all government institutes, clearly states that, verbally abusing another government officer, refusing or disobeying a senior officer could be cause for immediate interdiction by a disciplinary officer, ministry secretary or department head, the issue dragged on leading to continuous protests and closure of wards in the hospital.

On April 28 the male nurse had refused to accept a letter sent by the hospital’s director transferring him temporarily to the OPD. The next day the Matron had informed the director that the nurse had refused to participate in a disciplinary inquiry.

Meanwhile, on the following day, doctors and consultants decided to close surgical ward No 6 and three more surgical wards on May 5. Only emergency cases were attended to, while some patients were transferred to Colombo and other hospitals and some given future dates.

In the meantime the Health Ministry had decided to launch its own inquiry on May 2, five days after the incident. On Wednesday, May 7, after eight days of protest and following the assurance given by the Ministry Secretary that the male nurse would be transferred to the Kegalle hospital the doctors opened the four surgical wards around noon. But on the same day the Nurses’ Union decided to strike over the transfer and requested the transfer of the intern medical officer too. Hospital sources say the nurses had locked up the cupboards containing essential surgical items and medicines leading to the deaths of three people including an infant, on May 8. Hospital sources said 72-year old Premawathie, had reportedly died due to lack of medicines and 45 year old leelawathie died due to the lack of surgical equipment during a surgery. A new born infant had also died during delivery as some surgical instruments were unavailable in the labour room, hospital sources said.

On Friday morning (May 9) the nurses called off the strike following an assurance by the Health Ministry that the problem would be settled. The nurses had requested a full inquiry and hospital authorities have sent the male nurse on leave pending the inquiry.

Meanwhile Ministry Secretary Athula Kahandaliyanage said legal action would be taken against the officers responsible for the three deaths. Responding to a question why the Ministry waited five days to intervene in the dispute, he said they had not been informed immediately.

The fast spreading Chikungunya Virus in Ratnapura would have added to the woes of patients suffering from the disease and who had sought treatment in the hospital, when it was virtually crippled due to the dispute between the doctors and nurses.

The Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit head Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe said mosquitoes were breeding in jungle areas, although local authorities were doing their best to control the spread of the disease by fumigating the area. He also stressed the importance of the public protecting themselves from mosquitoes and keeping their surroundings clean.

More than 15,000 cases of suspected Chikungunya cases had been reported from the Ratnapura district during the past three weks and 80% of those have been proven to be positive, after blood samples were sent to MRI.

Ratnapura hospital sources said that 1493 patients had obtained medicines from the OPD and most of the wards were overflowing with patients, from May 5 to 9. “Most of the patients were on the floor as the wards were overcrowded,” hospital director Dr. Ranjith L. Kandewatte said.