Journey to Motherhood Becomes Nightmare at Lal Ded Hospital

Srinagar—Asiya was screaming in pain in post-operative care of Lal Ded hospital. It had been just couple of hours since she had delivered her first child through caesarean. Now sharing her hospital bed with another woman and visibly irritated with pain and discomfort of IV drip, she almost shouts at her mother, “my stomach will burst if you don’t take me to washroom. I need to pee now.” Asiya puts all her weight on the shoulders of her mother and aunt as the duo proceed towards the restroom. 

Every two steps and she almost faints. Her clothes look soiled in blood stains and her face wet with sweat and tears. It takes the women forever to cover the distance of few meters. The washroom stinks like a public urinal. The floor is soiled in urine, leftover food, clots of blood and sanitary pads. There are couple of Indian style toilets which are used by both patients as well as their attendants. Asiya looks disgusted at the sight and style of the toilet. Knowing that she could barely stand or walk, urinating in squatting position is not possible. She cries in frustration as her aunt and mother prepares her to urinate while standing.

“I still get angry every time I recall my helplessness. It is not so difficult to understand that a woman who has had her stomach open an hour ago cannot sit and pee,” recalls Asiya. “My delivery at LD hospital, because of that toilet, was not less than a horror story.”

Asiya’s horror story is not alone in its kind. There are many women like her who don’t want to recall their journeys to motherhood because it always brings with itself the memories of humiliation and shame. 

“Most of our patients are from rural areas and they don’t know how to use English toilets. We tried it once and made few English toilets but patients and attendants sat on the floor. I have myself seen floors soiled in faeces, pads, blood and urine,” said Deputy Medical Superintendent Lal Ded Hospital Dr. Farah Shafi. 

“We tried installing faucets but people didn’t understand what they were and complained lack of water,” adds Dr. Farah.

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Lal Ded is a 700 bedded lone maternity hospital and tertiary facility in the Valley of seven million people. The hospital grapples under the huge influx of patients not only from Srinagar city but here referrals flock from remote corners of the valley. The number of patients admitted in the hospital at any given time is almost three times more than the actual capacity of the institute. The washrooms have been constructed in the ratio of the number of beds. However, given that a bed is generally shared between two or three patients, the number of washrooms always falls short.

The increased patients mean increased attendants which puts way beyond load on the available washrooms. The Deputy Medical Superintendent says that the hospital administration is planning to set up more English style toilets for the patients especially those in labor and post-surgical care. But according to many patients this is not the solution. 

“The most important thing is cleanness. I delivered my first baby in Lal Ded and I was happy to see the English style washroom in my ward. However, the toilet was so dirty that every time I had to sit on it, my family first sanitized it with phenyl and other chemical products. We used to buy deodorants because I got nauseated with the smell every time I used the washroom,” said Farzana Jan. Mother of two children, Farzana later delivered her second baby in a private nursing home in Srinagar. 

The hospital grapples with the shortage of man power. The number of sweepers is far less than the minimum required number. No matter how hard the existing man power works, the washrooms of the hospital for most of the time remain very dirty putting the lives of both patients as well as their attendants at risk. 

“We have 45 vacancies for sweepers. There are more than 100 sanctioned posts of sweepers but they are not filled.” said Medical Superintendent of the hospital Nazir Ahmad Malik.

“We thought of trying to restrict the visiting hours but our patient set up is totally different. People don’t come here for sickness but for an important and emotional transition of their life. Emotions run very high and we can’t stop people from coming here,” says Malik. 

The hospital plans to set up more toilets but the already burdened drains may not take the load. “We are concerned about the strength of drains. We are working on making a sewage treatment plant with which we can later connect all our drains and outlets,” Medical Superintendent said.

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