Turning casualty wards into robust emergency medicine depts need of hour

WITH government hospitals being the first, and often, the only point of care for many, doctors are demanding urgent upgrades at these facilities, particularly the transformation of "poorly-equipped casualty wards" into fully-developed "emergency medicine departments".

- RISHITA KHANNA @ Bengaluru

The calls come after repeated instances of medical negligence and delays in patient care, often due to insufficient resources and inadequate systems that result in unnecessary hospital transfers for patients and raise a question if general hospitals are even prepared for the common man.

This year, Karnataka has seen cases that highlight not only the consequences of medical negligence, but also the glaring gaps in its healthcare infrastructure. After a series of maternal deaths in Ballari district, a 27-year-old woman in Madikeri died following a surgical procedure at a Community Health Centre. Her condition worsened after anaesthesia was administered and the patient succumbed while she was being transferred to a district hospital.