Govt hospitals see lesser footfall

Chandigarh: Footfa

ll in the usually crowded Monday OPD in government hospitals declined sharply due to downpour in the city. In PGI, OPD count was 9,756 on Friday, which fell to 5,510 on Saturday when the city received its first spell of rain. On Monday, it dipped to 3,196. The 49 per cent decline in the OPD footfall was caused by flooding of areas in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh -- from where most patients come to the tertiary care referral centre. “Patient attendance was low as they could not turn up due to disruption in public transport,” said a faculty in PGI.

In GMSH-16, OPD footfall fell by 36 per cent as compared to the normal count of around 3,000 every day. Most Tricity residents come to GMSH-16. “We have never seen such low patient attendance on the first day of the week other than during the COVID pandemic lockdown days,” said a faculty in GMSH-16.

“We cannot travel to PGI for follow-up as we are not able to find any bus or train for Chandigarh. The hospital is not closed but we will be stranded on the way like our relatives had a harrowing time,” said a patient who had to come to PGI from Kapurthala. City hospitals are prepared for disaster management and teams have been asked to be ready for cases of drowning, electrocution and water-borne diseases. “We have alerted our staff to be ready for management of these problems which can happen anytime,” said director, health services, UT Dr Suman Singh.

Emergency attendance in GMCH was 277 on Saturday and 88 on Sunday. No case of flooding or drowning has been reported in the hospital. On Saturday, there were 382 patients in the OPD, while on Friday there were 499. On Monday, only 177 patients came to OPDs of the GMCH-32, marking a 55 per cent reduction from the routine.