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Dirty toilets, cramped waiting rooms and erratic water supply torment people visiting Old GGH in Vijayawada
Minister Kolusu Parthasarathi interacting with the attendants of patients admitted to the old GGH in Vijayawada after they raised complaints about the poor maintenance of washrooms and other problems on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI
Poorly maintained toilets and bathrooms; insufficient seating for attendants; and irregular water supply in washrooms are the major complaints of people visiting the Old Government General Hospital (GGH) in Vijayawada.
This was brought to the attention of Minister for Housing and Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy on August 6 (Tuesday) when he visited the hospital to inquire about the health of a victim of child sexual abuse.
Some attendants preferred the old benches under a tree on the promises to sitting in the waiting rooms, even during drizzles, as was seen on August 7 (Wednesday). Some men were seen squatting outside the room.
“The rooms are almost always full. They can accommodate a maximum of 50 attendants; others either sit on the benches or just stand,” says Ganesh Babu, a resident of Pedana whose wife has been admitted to the hospital.
Dirty toilets
Moreover, women and men complain of unhygienic conditions near washrooms. There are six washrooms for men and women each. The washbasins were filled with leftover food, with flies buzzing over them; waste was dumped in a corner outside the washrooms.
Ganesh Babu, who has been here since last Tuesday, says he has been using the bathrooms in the Pandit Nehru Bus Stand as the ones on the hospital premises are poorly maintained.
A group of women, who were in the waiting room, said there are no bucket or mug in the toilets, while water supply gets disrupted sometimes. “We get our own buckets sometimes and fill them from a tap nearby,” they said.
A couple, who requested anonymity, said they received rude response whenever they asked the sanitation staff to maintain the toilets well. “They say why they should clean the dirt others spread,” the couple said, adding that they never brought it to the attention of doctors or authorities. “They are big people, how can we talk to them,” they added.
‘Rude’ security staff
Apart from poor facilities, the attendants also spoke about how the security staff was often rude to them, and how only one person was allowed inside with the patient. “Even to take coffee or tea inside, we are not allowed inside the hospital,” said a man, whose wife has been admitted to the hospital. Her mother is with her, while he waits outside.
What the hospital says
Responding to the complaints, deputy superintendent of the hospital Vinay Kumar said that though they have the washrooms cleaned thrice or more a day, they get dirty quickly because many use it. “This is the referral hospital for four districts. We see around 500 patients daily but the bed strength is 260; each [patient] is accompanied by two or three attendants,” he said, while admitting that the seating is inadequate.
As for the poor toilet maintenance, he said buckets and mugs get stolen every other day. “We got ‘GGH’ written on the buckets, but they still get stolen,” he said, adding that they are planning to drill a borewell to address the water problem. The hospital already have three, but they are becoming insufficient during summers.
Asked about the entry restrictions, he said they allow only one person with a patient to control the crowd and prevent infections. He added that they are planning to strengthen the sanitation staff to address the problems.
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