3 Idiots moment at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital: Doctors perform surgery under torchlight

The Capital's prestigious Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital had a 3 Idiots moment this week when doctors were forced to operate upon a patient under torchlight on a creaky table, sources told Mail Today.

Experts say the incident at the state-run institute is emblematic of the rot in India's public health system that is responsible for some of the world's worst health indicators.

According to sources, the common emergency operation theatre (OT) at RML Hospital is in pathetic state and "a gastrointestinal patient was given a surgery in torchlight this Monday when suddenly the focus light went off during the procedure, leaving the room pitch dark."

OPERATING ON BROKEN TABLES

In fact, the situation in the OT turned worse 24 hours later with a leg of the table breaking off. However, critical patients are still being operated on it. A doctor, requesting anonymity, said, "He was a gastrointestinal perforation patient and surgery could not be stopped as it could have led to a fatality."

Another senior doctor told Mail Today, "Now, we are forced to perform operations over this broken table. RML authorities have turned a blind to this sensitive issue and are playing with the lives of already sick people with medical equipment in such pitiful conditions in the emergency OT."

According to a report by consulting firm PwC India, the country's health system will need to add 3.6 million hospital beds, 3 million doctors and 6 million nurses over the next 20 years to meet the needs of the growing population. "Operation tables have to be adjustable as per the needs of a doctor. But for the past six months, this function of the operation table was not working. And it is broken too. Till Wednesday, we have operated on more than 10 emergency cases on a broken table, putting patients' lives at risk," informed a doctor.

ONE OT SHARED BY 5 SPECIALITIES

RML Hospital director Dr AK Gadpayle refused to comment. Dr Durga, OT-in charge at the institute, said, "I got to know about the broken operating table and damaged OT light today itself. We are working to fix the problem at the earliest."

The hospital's common emergency OT conducts ENT, paediatric, gynaecology and plastic surgeries. Located on the first floor of the old emergency building, it was supposed to be shifted to the new building, but that has not happened yet.

"Since the OT is used by five different specialties, there have been instances where doctors fight with each other to operate on their respective patients first. Moreover, most elective gynaecology cases are changed to emergency ones, which is unethical," said a doctor.

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