Government fails to rationalise DHSK staff; 900 medical officers being posted in peripheral areas: Dulloo
Dearth of doctors is badly hitting the patient care in Kashmir’s peripheral hospitals, even as officials accuse the government of failing to rationalise the staff in its health institutions.
According to an official source, while more doctors than the sanctioned strength have been posted in hospitals of the directorate of health services Kashmir in Srinagar, the paucity of medicos is causing deterioration in healthcare delivery in the rural areas.
At sub-district hospital Pampore, only 10 doctors are available despite the fact that the health facility witnesses an average load of 1000 patients in its OPD every day.
Want to publish your own articles on DistilINFO Publications?
Send us an email, we will get in touch with you.
Five to seven major surgeries and 25 to 30 minor surgeries are conducted at the SDH daily, an official told Greater Kashmir.
The hospital, he said, has two sanctioned posts of gynecologists but one of them has remained vacant for unknown reasons.
The average load of gynecological procedures every week is 15 to 20, according to the data accessed by Greater Kashmir.
However, SDH Pampore is not the only peripheral hospital reeling under shortage of doctors amid high patient load.
At district hospitals in Kupwara, Shopian and Kulgam as well as many sub-district hospitals across the Valley, the inadequate number of doctors is severely affecting the healthcare delivery.
A health department official said more doctors should have been posted in rural hospitals where the patient load is greater, “but the prevailing scenario is completely different”.
He said that government has failed to rationalise staff in accordance with the patient load and has posted more doctors in Srinagar hospitals.
Official data reveals that 29 doctors are posted in Gousia hospital in Srinagar, located between general specialty SMHS hospital and tertiary-care Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences.
“The total number of posts sanctioned for the hospital is 14, but 15 more have been attached to the hospital where the average OPD load is 350 a day,” the data reveals.
0-3 major surgeries are carried out at the hospital daily while the number of average minor surgeries there ranges from 1-3.
The hospital has seven surgical specialty doctors and two anaesthetists.
Despite having two gynecologists, the hospital rarely conducts a normal delivery or a caesarean section. In the last week of December, the number of such procedures conducted has been 5.
The hospital has three ophthalmologists, but no eye surgeries have been carried out, the data of December 2018 reveals.
Commissioner/secretary, health and medical education, Atal Dulloo acknowledged that staff in the directorate of health services needs to be rationalised.
“We are already on the job and many steps are being taken in this direction,” he said.
He said more than 900 medical officers are being posted in peripheral areas.
“Doctors who are in surplus to the sanctioned strength in any health institute would be assigned new postings shortly. We need a lot of staff in peripheries so that load on Srinagar hospitals is reduced,” Dulloo told Greater Kashmir.
Date: January 4, 2019
Source: GreaterKashmir