DNA: Mumbai:
Friday, September 28, 2018.
As
per a Right To Information (RTI) response received by a non-profit organisation
(NGO), there has been a shortage of medical staff in civic-run hospitals across
the city. A recent RTI-based study done by Praja Foundation shows that of the
1,739 medical posts sanctioned in 26 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC)-run hospitals, 39 per cent of the posts are vacant.
The
health department is yet to fill 682 posts in BMC hospitals. Besides this, 21
per cent posts are vacant in health dispensaries across the city. The 'TB
hospital absconding' cases are also because of the communication gap between
the medical staff and family members of the patients which led to the
absconding. According to the relatives, the misbehaviour of the nursing staff
lead to the incident. On the other hand, the medical authority also stated
pressure on the working staff as many workers don't want to work in the TB
hospital as it is infectious.
While
the number of beds in TB Hospital at Sewri has been reduced to around 600 from
1,200 due to infrastructure repair work, which started recently, there is
around 100 extra nursing staff working at the hospital. Currently, there are
around 30 doctors in the hospital.
One
of the medical officers stated, "Many times the doctors and the nurses
don't want to work in the TB hospital because it is an infectious disease. Most
of the patients which get admitted have severe TB. The medical staff does not
want to take care of these patients."
Dr
Lalitkumar Anande, medical superintendent of the TB Hospital, denied the
shortage of staff in their hospital. He said, "We have more than 230
nursing staff working and also around 100 extra staff. Around 600 to 1,200
patients are taking treatment. Our staff strength is good. The incident is unfortunate
and an inquiry should be set up to probe the incident."
Currently,
out of the 40,000 approximate medical beds including government, civic and
private hospitals, BMC (civic) hospitals has 13,000 beds across the city.