District hospital Bandipora has once again been in the news and yet again for all the wrong reasons, as usual. On Saturday a woman, who was writhing in labour pain, delivered baby near hospital gate after allegedly denied admission in the hospital for being COVID-19 positive. The incident has not only exposed mismanagement, yet again, in the district hospital but it has also brought to the fore lobbyism and rivalry among the officers of Bandipora health department. The main reason for the mismanagement and rising cases of medical negligence at DH Bandipora has been that the officials at the helm always play a blame game and they leave no stone unturned to blame each other when such incidents happen. The wording of the explanations issued after the incident expose the rot in the administration. This is not the first incident where officials have played a blame game instead of working together for the larger public good and improve the “rotten” healthcare system in the district. The lobbyism and “personal rivalry” has marred the smooth functioning at DH Bandipora in particular and health sector in general. If we take the example of Saturday’s incident, which exposed the ugly side of lobbyism and “personal rivalry”, that on one side, Medical Superintendent (MS) District Hospital Bandipora was trying to defend his sub-ordinate staff but on the other side, CMO Bandipora issued a “blatant” show-cause notice to MS and putting the same notice in the public domain. While MS was playing defensive for obvious reasons, CMO got a chance to take on a few staff members of the hospital. Even though an enquiry into the alleged medical negligence has been ordered and a committee has been set up to investigate the matter but what would be its outcome remains to be seen. No wonder, these enquiries are ordered to pacify the public anger but later these enquiries and committees are brushed under the carpet and there is no outcome. Over the past few years, dozens of such incidents have taken place at DH Bandipora and dozens of enquiries were ordered but their outcome is yet to be known. Well, the question remains unanswered—WHO IS TO BE BLAMED AND WILL THOSE, WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS MESS BE EVER TAKEN TO TASK?
