The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run Aundh Kuti Hospital, located at Parihar Chowk, is facing a shortage of basic medicines like blood pressure and diabetes tablets. Patients and activists are raising concerns as the medical facilities remain unavailable.
The civic body operates a total of 57 hospitals and 19 maternity hospitals. Despite this, Pune’s public healthcare system is on the verge of collapse due to poor administration, lack of resources and rising public apathy.
While Kamala Nehru Hospital serve as the city’s only major civic hospital and Naidu Hospital caters to infectious diseases, the rest are struggling to serve people effectively.
Social activist Deepak Jadav said, "To ensure that the municipal hospitals in our respective areas function better, it is necessary to form a committee of people at the local level to monitor and implement a communication process. Through this committee, the shortcomings in those hospitals should be brought to the attention of the administration."
"OPD is open in 57 municipal hospitals from 9am to 5pm. Free medicines are available here after paying a fee of just Rs 10, whereas tests are done at a discounted rate. Still, the flow of patients coming here for tests is very low, and it is decreasing day by day," added Jadav.
"Most of these civic hospitals do not treat patients well. There are many complaints that patients coming to the hospital are being humiliated by doctors and staff. In some hospitals, they are asked to take off their slippers and come in. There are no sitting arrangements for patients in the waiting areas. Even the sick patients have to stand, and doctors don't have the very basic equipment, like a stethoscope," he further said.
"BP and diabetes tablets are not available most of the time, and then we have to go to another hospital, mostly to Sassoon General Hospital and wait in a long queue all day to get medicines. Most of us are working as contractual labourers, so we can't afford to stand in a long queue for the entire day," said Raju Yadav, a daily wage worker.
"Just two decades ago, municipal hospitals were relatively better. Instead of getting better with time, they have gotten worse as civic buildings and services have been gradually handed over to private institutions under the guise of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models, often in connection with political interests," added Jadav.
Meanwhile, a senior PMC official, on the condition of anonymity, said, "There is no shortage of medicines because we haven't received any requirement, but we will check with the respective hospital. We are providing the medical facilities free of cost, and we haven't received complaints regarding the non-availability of seats at the hospitals."
