Despite the state government spending over Rs 850 crore to improve healthcare services in the last four years, government hospitals in the Chandigarh periphery are still ailing.

If we go by the figures of patients referred from eight hospitals — four each in Mohali and Ropar districts — it seems government hospitals around Chandigarh have turned into mere referral centres.

Passing the buck?
According to information procured under the Right to Information Act, a total of 2,911 emergency cases were reported till July in 2008. Of these, 1,722 were admitted while 1,189 (41 per cent) were referred from Mohali district government hospitals.

In 2007, of the 4,144 emergency patients reported in Mohali district government hospitals, 1,801 (43 per cent) were referred while 2,343 were admitted.

In Ropar, 569 (60 per cent) of the 955 emergency cases were referred while 386 were admitted in government hospitals till July 2008. In 2007, of the 1,821 emergency cases, 1,081 (59 per cent) were referred and 740 were admitted.

All the cases were referred to PGIMER, GMCH-32 and GMSH-16 in Chandigarh.

Interestingly, the government hospitals were also reprimanded several times by the city hospital authorities for the large numbers of referrals.

In Mohali district, Kurali tops the chart by referring 242 (82 per cent) emergency patients of the 296 reported in 2008 followed by Kharar Civil Hospital, which referred 239 (72 per cent) patients of the 330 emergency cases.

While Anandpur Sahib referred 201 (71 per cent) of the total 285 emergency patients in 2008, Ropar Civil Hospital referred 275 (63 per cent) emergency cases of the total 435.

Infrastructure
Seven of the total eight government hospitals in both the districts have 540 beds with sanctioned posts of eight Senior Medical Officers (SMOs), 94 Medical Officers (MOs) and eight dental surgeons.

While the Mohali Civil Hospital has 200 sanctioned beds, Ropar and Anandpur Sahib hospitals have 100 sanctioned beds each. Kharar has 50 sanctioned beds, Kurali, Chamkaur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi have 30 sanctioned beds each.

Mohali has the maximum sanctioned strength of 31 doctors while Ropar and Anandpur Sahib have 22 doctors each. Kurali, Chamkaur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi have seven doctors each while Kharar has 14 sanctioned posts.