New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Hours after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal conducted a surprise inspection of Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital here, he directed Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash to initiate steps to fill vacant posts of pharmacists on an urgent basis.

“There were patients who stood in line for the whole day and did not get medicines and had come back today (Thursday). We have to solve this issue soon,” Kejriwal told reporters outside the hospital.

“Long queues at pharmacy. Need to increase number of counters and pharmacists,” he tweeted later.

A statement said that Kejriwal had ordered for filling up of the vacant posts of pharmacists in 10 days, so that patients did not have to wait for more than 15 minutes at the counter.

According to the statement, he visited the Emergency Ward, General Ward, Paediatrics Ward and Ultrasound Department of the hospital and met attendants and patients and found that “patients are mostly satisfied with the medical services”.

The Chief Minister found that there was a shortage of ultrasound machines in the hospital and directed Health Minister Satyendar Jain to look into this issue.

He also observed that doctors were giving long dates for surgeries and operations and some patients were even being given dates for operations after three months.

He said this was “unacceptable” as the government has a scheme wherein if a patient is given operation date after more than a month, he would be referred to a private hospital immediately and all expenses would be borne by the government.

Kejriwal directed to organise training for doctors for creating awareness about the scheme.

He also noted that there was a huge information gap in hospitals. “Once in the OPD, many patients did not know where to go, which doctor to refer to for treatment.

“For plugging this information gap, there is a need to appoint volunteers to guide the patients who visit the hospital,” he said.

–IANS
mg/nir/dg