CAG report puts Delhi government hospitals in a dock

The condition of government hospitals in Delhi drew a sharp criticism from Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which, in its report found several glaring shortcomings like unavailability of blood banks in five hospitals.
The CAG today painted a sorry state of affairs at government hospitals in the national capital in its report for the fiscal year ending March 2012, which was tabled in Delhi Assembly.
The government auditor said that scrutiny of records and interaction with patients revealed that many essential drugs are not available at many occasions in hospitals like Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) and Guru Tegh Bahadur.
In GTB, 31 medicines were not available for a month last year while in Rao Tula Ram Memorial hospital, patients complained that they had to purchase medicines from outside.

At Ambedkar hospital, the CAG found that 47 essential drugs were not available on many occasions during a period between 2009 and 2012.
A check of the records of GTB and LNJP hospitals revealed that ambulances remained unutilised most of the time and when it was used it was not for patients most of the time.

"Hospitals have been using ambulances mainly for bringing medicines from the market, dropping doctors at their residences, carrying dead bodies to mortuary and collecting cash from bank etc..." the CAG said.
In a scary note, the auditor also said the ambulances were not equipped with basic life support system such as oxygen cylinders, suction pumps, stethoscopes and first aid boxes.

The report revealed that budgetary and expenditure control in the hospitals were inadequate which meant that money earmarked for heads like 'Machinery and Equipment', 'Supplies and Material' and 'salaries' were left underutilised.
"The OPD services were affected due to shortage of medical equipment, medicines, injections, infrastructure and medical support items. The Emergency Departments were not providing required services due to lack of essential equipment, medicines and adequate staff," it said.
In a glaring shortcomings, it was found that five hospitals did not have blood banks while the license for blood bank was not renewed in GTB hospital.