Tough times for non corona patients in UP

April 7, 2020
Lucknow: Even as the Yogi Adityanath government is working overtime to strengthen the healthcare faculties to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, the non-coronavirus patients are facing a tough time.

The general facility for out-patients (OPD) have been shut at the six major hospitals in Lucknow –the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) , King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Balrampur Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS), Shyama Prasad Civil Hospital and Lok Bandhu Hospital.

All these hospitals are now focusing on the COVID-19 cases which has led to the denial of treatment for general patients.

The OPD at the KGMU alone gets around 4,000-5,000 patients daily while the SGPGIMS receives at least 2,000 patients on a daily basis. The Ram Manohar Lohia hospital caters to around 18,000 patients a day while the Balrampur hospital count is around 2,000 patients. The Lok Bandhu hospital gets 1,000 patients daily.

All these hospitals are now admitting only suspected/confirmed Covid-19 cases and offer emergency and super-specialty services.

Kiran Kumar, who suffered a fracture in his leg after falling down the stairs in his house, was turned away from the KGMU on Monday.

“I could not even get an X-ray done because diagnostic clinics are closed due to lack of staff. I am trying to get an appointment with a private orthopedic doctor but most of them are not taking calls,” he said.

The situation is worse for the Cancer patients since most hospitals are not entertaining new patients for chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Abdul Hasan Hashmi, whose younger brother is suffering from oral cancer and was scheduled to undergo chemotherapy, was turned Rahul Gandhi red flags Hydroxylchloroquine export to US
(12:48)
New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has red flagged the export of hydroxylchloroquine to the United states and said that the “life saving” drug should be made available to the country first.

The central government has decided to lift ban on the export of this drug.

Congress leader slammed the US President on his “retaliation” jibe on the issue of the drug export.

“Friendship isn’t about retaliation. India must help all nations in their hour of need but life saving medicines should be made available to Indians in ample quantities first,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress leader said that there are reports that hydroxychloroquine is out of stock in the retail market as the government decided to export the drug which is essentially to be used by frontline corona warriors.

The World Health Organisation has recommended to use this anti-malarial drug as preventive medecine, including for health workers medics and paramedics.

The government has decided to lift a partial ban on hydroxychloroquine after US President Donald Trump requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to export the drug to aid America’s fight against the deadly Covid-19 disease.

Official sources told IANS that the government will clear the existing orders immediately on humanitarian grounds. The Centre, sources said, will not ban but restrict the export of hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol depending on the availability of stock after meeting domestic requirements.

President Trump had called Prime Minister Modi, requesting him to supply the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that is being used to treat Covid-19 patients and as prophylactic by the frontline health care workers deployed in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Modi government had imposed a ban on export of the drug since the coronavirus outbreak hit India.IANS