Chennai: A 52-year-old woman, clutching her medical reports and medicines, waited outside the radiology ward of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) for nearly four hours, exposed to the stench from the toilet spreading through the crowded corridor. A few blocks away, dialysis patients spent the entire day waiting for machines to function.
At the state's largest government referral hospital, which handles more than 12,000 outpatient visits daily and houses 3,000 inpatients, staff shortages, poor sanitation, and faulty equipment have turned basic treatment into an exhausting ordeal for families with nowhere else to go.
Lack of Guidance and Basic Amenities
From navigation to registration, the absence of basic coordination hits patients as soon as they enter the hospital. There is no one to guide them, as even the 'May I Help You' desk remains unmanned. Requests for directional maps are also unaddressed.
While patients lie on the floor due to a lack of wheelchairs and stretchers, hospital staff use the available ones to carry materials between blocks. Some wheelchairs were seen near the laundry section, used by staff to rest.
Long Queues for Scans and Dialysis
There are long queues for CT and MRI scans, even in emergency cases, leaving patients waiting for several hours. Sujatha, 52, said, 'I came for a CT scan at 9am and waited for nearly four hours before getting the scan at around 1pm. I have been waiting for almost three hours but still haven't received the results, even though it's been a day since the scans were taken. There's no proper response from the staff.'
Similarly, several dialysis machines were not functioning properly, while the dialysis unit itself lacked air conditioning, violating basic healthcare norms listed by the World Health Organization. 'We have been waiting from 7am, and till 3pm the machines were not working. We come here three times a week for dialysis, and it takes an entire day because of machine failures. The doctors don't regularly check on us either,' said Kanchana, who came from Chengalpet for her son's treatment.
Outpatients waiting to check their blood pressure also face long delays, as just one or two nurses are available. Patients said blood pressure machines frequently face glitches, further increasing waiting time.
Sanitation and Infrastructure Woes
Sanitation levels across the hospital have deteriorated. Toilets are unclean and stink up the corridors near outpatient wards, X-ray units, and radiology sections. Many toilets across various blocks reportedly lack buckets and mugs, forcing attendants to buy them from outside. 'The hospital does not give us urine containers, so we have to buy them ourselves. Sometimes, if patients pass urine or stool on the bed, attendants are asked to wash the bedsheets before the staff replace them,' said an attendant at the male surgical ward.
Additionally, none of the water filters in the hospital is functional, forcing visitors either to walk to the entrance gate to fill their water bottles or buy water from shops outside. Patients and attendants also pointed to poor infrastructure and safety concerns, including non-functional pantries, rusted fire safety equipment, and damaged walls near lift areas.
RGGGH dean Dr K Shantharam and director of medical education Dr R Suganthy Rajakumari were not available for comment despite multiple attempts by the Times of India to reach them.
