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At 4:35 am on 16 August, in a small private hospital in Agra, Chanchal Singh became a mother for the first time. Two days later, and before she ever saw her baby boy, the newborn was declared dead.
The events that transpired during the infant’s life paint a harsh picture of Agra’s private healthcare industry, and raise tough questions against the hospitals and the authorities allowing them to function.
Devendra Singh, the baby’s father, alleges that despite his complaints the hospital staff did not tend to the newborn even as his health worsened.
In Agra’s ‘hospital bazaar’, Devendra’s case is one among many. On a 1.8 km stretch, more than 46 private hospitals put the lives of their patients at risk by compromising on qualification and flouting norms.
In short, human lives at risk. All while the authorities look away.
The Quint travelled to Agra’s Trans Yamuna Colony, where these hospitals are located, to find out more.
When Devendra and his wife reached Saraswati Hospital in the wee hours of 16 August, the gynaecologist suspected a complication with the baby and decided to perform a caesarean delivery. Right after the delivery, the newborn seemed to be facing breathing problems.
Saraswati Hospital does not have a neonatal ICU (known colloquially as an ICU for infants). That morning, neither did it have an ambulance.
The baby was transferred to Dr Manoj Jain’s Chahak Child Care. His health improved over the next two days. But at the crack of dawn on 18th morning, the baby breathed his last.
He shot a video where a seemingly still baby lay on his bed, but none of the hospital staff attended to him.
On speaking to the doctor-in-charge, we were left with more questions than answers.
Yet, other doctors that The Quint spoke to say that SIDS is when an infant who has been perfectly healthy suddenly dies. This baby, however, had some complications right after his birth.
Next, Dr Jain admitted that when the baby reached his hospital he was facing breathing problems. Yet, in the two days that he was under Dr Jain’s care, not a single test was conducted to enquire into what the problem was.
Why were no tests conducted? If it was for a lack of facilities, why was the baby not transferred to a bigger hospital?
The case of Devendra’s son prompted us to explore other hospitals on the Trans Yamuna Colony. And yes, there were many. Way too many.
A slew of hospitals lined both sides of the road. On closer inspection, we counted 46 hospitals within 1.8 km in Agra’s hospital hub. And that’s just on the main road. Do the math and it’s one hospital for every 40 metres. Several of these establishments do not have more than two rooms.
Dr Mukesh Goyal, former secretary of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Agra Branch, owns one of the larger hospitals on the Trans Yamuna Colony. Goyal explains, “For 150-200 kilometres beyond Agra, there is a dearth of hospitals and qualified doctors, which has resulted in the abundance of hospitals on this road.”
We question locals about the condition of these hospitals. An auto driver stationed outside one of them scoffs,
What is certain is the abundance of hospitals. What is not is whether the patients admitted there are really in safe hands.
Walking down the Trans Yamuna Colony, an under-construction building catches our attention. The board outside reads ‘Chaitanya Hospital’. A pile of rubble greets us once we enter the building. We’re yet to find the hospital in the hospital building.
A woman from Manikpur was waiting outside with her husband. Pointing to a man in a white shirt, she told us she’s come here through his reference to get her treatment done. He’s one of the owners of the hospital. After tending to the patient, he speaks to us.
Since he was treating patients, we assumed that 34-year-old Brijesh Kumar Yadav is a doctor. But we were in for a rude surprise.
On asking Yadav about his credentials, he revealed that he was just a BSc graduate in Biology.
The Quint: “Not an MBBS?”
Yadav: “No, no. Not an MBBS.”
The Quint: “But you treat patients?”
Yadav: “Yes, I do.”
The Quint: “And sign prescriptions too?”
Yadav: “Ya of course, I sign prescriptions for the patients I’m treating.”
Chaitanya Hospital’s prescriptions carry the names of two registered doctors. However, they were being signed and handed out by someone who hadn’t even registered for an MBBS.
Yadav’s only experience with healthcare came as a doctor’s assistant in Agra’s Synergy Plus Hospital. Clearly, he thought that was enough to enable him to charge patients and begin his own practice.
Showing us a prescription, Yadav points to a number at the top right of the paper saying that’s the registration number of the hospital. It reads “UP/AGR/AL/2016-2550”.
We waited for Yadav to laugh and tell us he was joking. He didn’t. He was dead serious.
The bottom of the prescription paper also says that the hospital is not to be held responsible in case of any eventuality – “Not valid for medico legal purpose.”
At the back of the building are stairs leading to the basement where a general ward with 7 beds has been set up. This, even when the building is still under construction.
Reputed doctors we spoke to admitted that having patients live in an under-construction site greatly increases the risk of them contracting infections and respiratory problems.
Urmila, one of the patients admitted at Chaitanya Hospital, is suffering from a liver problem. The 35-year-old labourer works in Delhi, but hails from Jalesar Gaon, a village around 50 km outside of Agra. After doing the rounds of several government hospitals in Delhi, she came to Agra’s Trans Yamuna Colony for treatment.
Her husband alleges that when they initially asked what the problem was and how much the treatment will cost, the hospital didn’t answer them. “And now, we have no way of getting out of it. This hospital has tricked us.”
For most of the day, the small hospitals have no doctors and no nurses either. Doctors are only on-call. When the doctor is away, patients are tended to by the hospital compounders, none of whom have qualifications in medicinal science.
At Saraswati Hospital, the operation theatre has families of patients lounging in it.
At Chahak Child Care’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the compounders are caught napping at 1:30 in the afternoon.
Also, the NICU’s door opens into the general ward and there’s no check for who’s walking into that space, where newborns are lying susceptible to infections.
Almost all these hospitals regularly conduct surgeries. The examples above raise concerns about the level of hygiene in which these surgeries are carried out, especially since operations are supposed to be done in a sterilised environment.
At Madhuban Hospital, a small establishment with a general ward and an operation theatre, Dr Amit Agarwal agrees that the state of affairs is far from desirable.
Shambhu Dayal, a police constable from Etah, chips in, “Bahut toh fraud bhi hain yahan (There are a lot of frauds around here). The government facilities aren’t great either, and the hospitals on the Trans Yamuna Colony do operations and surgeries for cheaper. So, a lot of people prefer such places.”
“Faults are there in every field. This is India. When you’re building a house, are you following all the construction rules? No. These clinics shouldn’t be closed, we’re serving the public. Not everyone is a dacoit,” says Dr MK Singhal of Narvada Devi Hospital.
Madhuban Hospital’s Dr Amit Agarwal turns defensive too, when asked if the price difference is because they are providing below-par facilities. “Whether you take a black t-shirt from a local shop or a branded one, it’s the same, right?”
At the chemist outside Chaitanya, Rinku, who works at a nearby hospital, responds to our curiosity about the large number of private hospitals. “If even one big government hospital like the ones in Delhi opens up here, then you won’t need any of these,” he says, pointing to the line of hospitals.
The Quint travelled to Agra to find out some of the answers that the case of Devendra’s child threw up. But what we got back from Agra’s ‘hospital bazaar’ were more questions.
Are the state authorities unaware that the lives of these patients are at risk?
But don’t the authorities come by to conduct checks at these places?
When we contacted Mukesh Vats, the Chief Medical Officer of Agra, he said he was still new to the job.
Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
(This article was first published on 31 August 2017. The Quint’s visit to Agra’s hospital hub in August revealed shocking details of medical incompetence.)
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Published: 31 Aug 2017,12:35 PM IST