‘Staff shortage haunts government hospitals’

The Hindu: Madurai: Friday, 04 December 2015.

At a time when people throng government hospitals in flood-ravaged districts such as Cuddalore and Kancheepuram, staff shortage poses hardship to poor patients, according to Anandraj, an activist from People’s Watch, a Madurai-based non-governmental organisation.

Obtaining information on staff strength through Right to Information (RTI) route, he said that against the sanctioned strength of 189 only 133 doctors were working at Cuddalore Government Hospital, which was visited by 12,000 outpatients every day. Against the sanctioned strength of 214, only 155 doctors were working at Kancheepuram GH.

He said that doctors working in headquarters hospitals should not be given special assignments to conduct medical camps in villages. When doctors and para-medical staff were assigned camp duty, government hospitals functioned on skeletal strength. Hence, the government should form exclusive teams for conducting health camps.

After the recent floods, the number of outpatients served by Cuddalore GH had increased manifold. Owing to lack of specialists, patients were referred to Chennai hospitals.

To alleviate hardships faced by poor patients, the government should ensure specialists were available at all hospitals.

Though Kancheepuram was close to Chennai, the number of outpatients visiting the GH there every day stood at 10,385. The inpatient admission was around 800. People in and around Madurantakam and Tirukazhukundram depend on available doctors in their places since travelling to flooded Chennai could prove risky.

Since government hospitals catered largely to the poor and needy, the vacancies must be filled soon, Mr. Anandraj said.