Lack of bed sheets in Odisha 5T hospital irks patients

Patients at the Basudevpur Community Health Centre (CHC) in the Bhadrak district have allegedly been deprived of a very basic amenity like bed sheets for quite long. Though patients keep complaining about it, no step has allegedly been taken to sort out the issue. 

The state government has reportedly transformed the CHC under the 5T Initiative with a squeaky-clean look outside. However, patients coming without their own bed sheets are laid on the bare beds. 

As per guidelines, each patient is entitled to a bed sheet every day, and that too of a different colour. 

This long-persisting problem triggered resentment among patients and their attendants. 

Damodar Sahu, a patient's attendant, lamented, "Many beds are not clean. Bed sheets are not available. Some beds are even stained with blood. Hospital staff say bed sheets are not given to patients." 

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The Medical officer of the CHC said that the agreement of the agency supplying bed sheets has been scrapped.

The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Dr Santosh Kumar Patra said over the phone that the CHC authorities have not intimated the problem to him. “A new agency has been engaged at the CHC. The matter will be sorted in a day or two,” he added.