Extended OPD working hours, a boon to patients

By Jaliya WIJEYEKOON

Health care is the most important segment of day-to-day life of all people irrespective of any differences in the society. President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is extremely concerned about health care facilities of the nation issued a directive to the health authorities to keep the out door patients departments of hospitals open round the clock to treat the poor patients.

Earlier the OPDs catered to patients only from 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. daily. People used to come from distant places and stand in the queue for long hours awaiting treatment.

Nurses Trade Union Leader, Rev. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thero

National Hospital Director Dr. Hector Weerasinghe

Addtional Secretary Development, Health Ministry, Sarath Vithana

Health authorities made elaborate arrangements to provide this facility from November 15. They extended from 7.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. daily as an initial step and expect to further extend the period in the near future.

Sunday Observerconducted a brief survey to ascertain the progress in the new service with the relevant parties. Some of their comments are given below:

Additional Secretary, Health Ministry Sarath Vithana said that the extended service at OPDs have proved immensely successful in all the General Hospitals in the island. Doctors and the para-medical personnel at OPDs are now working quite contentedly since this is no pressure as in peak hours. In the past the morning sessions were hectic for the OPD staff and now the rush has thinned out. In Colombo General Hospital we have been treating an average of 2400 - 2500 patients per day in the past. The number of OPD patients had increased by about 10 percent. But we have increased the treatment hours by 5 hours ending the pressure. The other important fact is that the doctors spend more time on patients on their ailments.

In the past we saw long queues at OPDs from very early hours of the day, sometimes from about 4.00 a.m. in the morning. But with the new extended service, we don't find patients standing in the queue from so early hours of the day, he said.

Health Ministry always monitors the progress and the developments of this service and it is reported from outstation hospitals also that the extended service has become very productive and the public is happy over this facility. All the staff members working in OPDs have been rostered for duty by the hospital management and necessary facilities have been provided to them so that they work with dedication and with a sense of commitment to the noble profession that they are engaged in.

Matale and Ampara district hospitals have worked out a new system to further streamline the services at out door Departments by allocating different times to the patients from their first visit so that when they visit the hospital again they will not have to queue up for treatment. We will monitor this system and if proved successful it will be extended to other hospitals as well in future in addition to the extended hours, Vithana said.

Director National Hospital, Colombo Dr. Hector Weerasinghe told the Sunday Observer that the new service is very useful and it is implemented quite successfully from the 15th of this month and people are already getting used to the extended hours. If has been observed that most of the city dwellers come for Out Door Treatment in the late hours of the day. We have rostered the OPD doctors, Para Medical Personnel and even Attendants to implement this extended service smoothly. It is admirable that all trade unionists have extended their unstinted support to this new service. We will monitor the progress of this new service to the nation for sometime and try to further improve this facility to provide a still better service in future.

Sunday Observer spoke to some of the patients who were at the Colombo South Hospital OPD for their comments on this new service. An elderly lady, a traffic warden in Colombo Fort who had come for treatment of a wound on her leg, said that this new service is one of the greatest meritorious acts done by the government for the down trodden and immensely praised President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Another person who refused to disclose his identity stated that he is a regular patient coming for treatment for high blood pressure and now it is very convenient for him to obtain his regular quota of drugs from the hospital on his way home.

Another person, a woman coming out of the OPD said that her child had fallen down the doorsteps and suffered injury to her chin. The OPD Doctors immediately treated her and she was thankful to the doctors. Had there been such facility she would have been forced to borrow money to go to a private practitioner, she said Sunday Observer also spoke to a few kiosk owners outside the Hospital and they said that earlier they used to close by 5.30 p.m. but now they keep open their boutiques till 8.30 p.m. and their regular income too has increased by about 30 percent due to the late working hours of OPDs. Some of the three-wheeler drivers nearby hospitals are also happy since they have a number of short runs everyday in the late evenings increasing their daily income by about 4 - 5 hundred rupees.

Sunday Observer, contacted the Nurses' Trade Union Chief Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera to get his views about the progress of this new service and he is of the strong opinion that this is a long overdue facility by the Health Department and the public should be thankful to the President for directing the authorities to provide it round the clock. He further stated that the Nurses' Union extends its unconditional support to make this new extended service fully successful in time to come.

Sunday Observer spoke to some doctors attached to OPDS of outstation hospitals and almost everyone of them said that the new extended service is very effective and the workload during the day time has reduced enabled them to pay more attention on the patients.