Thursday, 24 October 2014 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The administration at Deen Dayal Upadhyay District Hospital has expressed concern to the director general of health (Centre) Statistics K S Bisht regarding the doctor crunch negatively impacting medical service at the facility. According to the medical superintendent of the hospital, V S Chauhan, they had flagged their concern over this matter when Bisht was conducting a surprise inspection to assess various factors such as staff shortage.
Chauhan confirmed that Bisht had found the cleanliness of the hospital to be satisfactory during the inspection of the gynaecology ward, labour room, ANC and PNC ward. However, staff shortage, particularly of doctors, had been highlighted as a matter of concern by the hospital administration and Bisht had assured the hospital administration that the issue would be raised with the director general of health and would be addressed.
Sharing details about the doctor shortage, Chauhan said that there are a total of 51 approved positions for doctors at the district hospital with eight of them remaining vacant. “There are three approved positions for physicians at the hospital with one remaining vacant. Further, there are four approved positions for radiologists with two positions remaining vacant and out of two approved positions for eye specialists, one is vacant,” he said.
Underscoring the need to fill the vacant positions, he said that the unfilled posts are adding to the workload for the doctors. “For example, due to the shortage of physicians, the working doctors are attending around 210 patients at the outpatient department, which is challenging for both the doctors and the patients,” he said.
“Aside from the doctor crunch, the hospital has been facing a shortage of nursing staff. This should be addressed, too,” Chauhan added.
