``Budgetary constraints have come in the way of acquiring equipment for the hospital and providing medical facilities to patients,'' said Dr Sheela Pershad, Director of Peripheral Hospitals.

Local Congress corporator R R Pillai said the BMC had been asked for a yearly allocation of Rs 12.5 crore for the hospital, but it has provided only Rs 1.25 crore for the current year, which is ``not enough to acquire equipment and develop wards.'' Pillai noted: ``When the hospital was inaugurated last year, even ordinary tablets were not available. We had to get them from a nearby dispensary.'' The situation hasn't improved much since. So short is the availability of medical facilitiesthat there are, on an average, merely 14-15 persons admitted at a given time in the hospital having 125 beds, sources said.

A medical officer attached to the hospital said the hospital attracts about 300-400 patients daily in the outpatients department. This shows people do come to the hospital in large numbers. However, of the 300-400 patients, only those requiring medical treatment are admitted to the medicine ward, while those needing surgical treatment are transferred to Cooper Hospital, he pointed out.

Surgical patients are not admitted because the operation theatre does not have facilities to carry out any kind of major surgery, nor is there any facility for post-operative care, sources said. Similarly, there is no psychiatry ward and no paediatric ward, and children are sometimes admitted in the general ward, he said.

As there is also no gynaecological ward in the hospital, pregnant women are referred to Oshiwara Maternity Home, he said. Sometimes, this process of shifting a patient in a criticalcondition to another hospital can result in a complication due to the time involved, he pointed out.

Even a ventilator, essential for giving artificial respiration to patients, has not been provided, and patients in a critical state have to be shifted to the nearest hospital. This too becomes difficult because the hospital has not been provided with an ambulance. Dr Pershad said steps were being taken to rectify matters, and equipment was being acquired.