Health workers on strike, dying without treatment: UK hospitals worse than Ukraine
Health workers on strike, dying without treatment: UK hospitals worse than Ukraine, 500 deaths per week
Britain's healthcare system has come to a complete standstill. Patients are dying on hospital floors, in corridors, in stuck ambulances and elsewhere as health workers strike and services stop. According to Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, 'around 500 people are dying every week for lack of treatment.'
Doctors in Britain are describing the condition of hospitals as worse than in war-torn Ukraine. Dr. Paul Ransom, awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) this year, said that our hospitals' condition is worse than in Ukraine and Sri Lanka.
Dr. Paul Ransom said that he also expressed his helplessness regarding the patients waiting for treatment in the corridors. He said, 'I feel guilty when I find my NHS colleagues unable to care for patients. I have also seen patients lying in corridors in countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe.
According to that, our condition here is worse. It is becoming difficult for the nursing staff to decide which patient is the most serious and whom to call in the overcrowded emergency room for treatment.
No other European country has worse health services than Britain. In fact, in healthcare in the UK, hospitals are run and funded by the government under the National Health Services (NHS). Over the past few years, Conservative governments have reduced hospital funding and reduced staff.
The salary of the employees is also less. The crumbling of medical systems can be gauged from the fact that if a normal patient has to be seen by a physician, he is getting an appointment after 6 to 9 months. If a major operation is to be done, then he has to wait for 18 months. The situation worsened last month when NHS nurses and ambulance staff went on strike to demand higher pay and improved working conditions.
When Rishi Sunak took office as Prime Minister, he promised that more nurses and doctors would be recruited for the NHS so that patients did not have to wait long to see a doctor. Along with this, 7000 beds will be increased. But nothing has happened till now ahead of his promise.
Trouble escalated on Wednesday when nurses and ambulance staff rejected the government's proposal for a salary hike, saying it was too meagre. 10 lakh health workers and ambulance staff in the country are associated with 14 unions. These unions want to discuss this with the Health Minister.
UK hospitals have warned patients not to come to the emergency department unless there is a life-threatening situation. A doctor from North Britain told Dainik Bhaskar that the elderly man died on the hospital floor in front of his wife due to the non-availability of beds and stretchers. On the condition of anonymity, the doctor told that the situation is as bad as Covid.
The one who died did not get an ambulance for 9 hours to come to the hospital. One woman had a chest infection. Timely treatment was not received in the emergency and he lost his life. He had to wait for 10 hours for an ambulance. An elderly person lost his life due to a lack of care.
Many patients told Bhaskar that due to the collapse of government health services, private ambulance companies have started earning. 600 pounds (about 60 thousand rupees) and 1300 pounds (about 1.28 lakh rupees) are being charged to the patients of rural areas for transporting them to short-distance hospitals. According to statistics, the demand for private ambulances has doubled rapidly.