Rajkot: A 70-year-old woman was seen pulling a stretcher herself while taking a relative for treatment at Gujarat’s Rajkot Civil Hospital, raising questions about patient assistance arrangements at the government-run facility.
A now-viral video showed the woman wheeling her relative on the stretcher at the hospital premises without apparent assistance. The incident drew attention to the arrangements in place to help patients move around the hospital, particularly those who depend on staff for basic assistance.
Rajkot Civil Hospital, considered the largest hospital in the Saurashtra region, caters to patients from across the area, including those from economically weaker backgrounds. The video has raised concerns over whether adequate staff are available to transport patients on stretchers.
Following the video's circulation on social media, M S Roy, an accounts officer at the Civil Hospital, described the incident as distressing and confirmed that an investigation was underway.
The hospital administration has also issued a notice to the agency responsible for providing stretcher-transport services. It said a standard operating procedure would be introduced to prevent similar incidents in the future.
As mentioned by the administration, the deployment of staff to transport patients on stretchers would be strictly enforced to ensure that patients and their family members do not have to face such difficulties.
The investigation will seek to establish why the elderly woman had to pull the stretcher herself and whether the agency responsible for patient transport failed to fulfil its duties. The administration has not yet disclosed the findings or details of any further action.