Staff crunch hits healthcare in Adilabad

For instance, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)-Adilabad is staffed by 85 doctors as against the sanctioned posts of 148 doctors.

Adilabad: The Medical and Health department is facing a staff crunch even as Adilabad district sees a rise in seasonal diseases.

For instance, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)-Adilabad is staffed by 85 doctors as against the sanctioned posts of 148 doctors. It has 31 head nurses when compared to total posts of 41, while there are only 289 staff nurses instead of 351. The posts of five lab technicians and 11 pharmacists are also lying vacant, affecting these affecting the services in the hospital, which at the same time is registering a spurt in inpatients due to seasonal diseases such as viral and dengue fevers. It is seeing around 2,500 patients a day as against 1,500 patients a few months ago. The patients are forced to wait long for their turns and undergo treatment.

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Similarly, sixteen doctors are working in the super specialty hospital attached to RIMS, when compared to 52 posts sanctioned to the facility. Twenty-two primary health centres and five health centres belonging to the medical and health department are equipped with 33 doctors out of the total 53 doctors allocated to it. The department has 16 pharmacists as against the sanctioned strength of 26.

The department has 91 Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM), while 44 posts are lying vacant. It is staffed by nineteen lab technician posts as against 31 sanctioned posts. The staff crunch of the health centres are hitting medical services, causing inconvenience to the public, in particular tribals of remote villages.

Officials of the Medical and Health department said the district saw 11,056 fever cases from January to July. It registered 2,043 cases of fever in August alone. It recorded 42 dengue fever cases from January to till date. Twenty-three positive cases of dengue were reported in July, while five dengue positive cases were recorded in August.

When asked, District Medical and Health Officer Dr Narender Rathod said steps were being taken to address the staff crunch and to avoid inconvenience to the public. Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) were formed at various levels, while an epidemic control room was opened. Action plans were prepared to control dengue fever while medical camps were being organized in villages hit by seasonal diseases. Birth waiting rooms were opened at various locations for pregnant women from interior villages. Availability of drugs, rapid diagnostic kits, etc were being ensured for remote villages.