Staff crunch affects functioning of GG Hospital in Anantapur

Anantapur: Doctors, nurses and other para-medical staff at Government General Hospital are working under intense pressure due to severe staff shortage and budgetary constraints. The staff who were supposed to serve 350 patients,  are serving 1,200 patients everyday apart from 2,000 out-patients.

Of the 241 doctors’ strength, the actual number working in the hospital are only 168. More than 73 posts of doctors are lying vacant. A mere 134 nurseries are working in the hospital out of 510 sanctioned hospital staff nurses. There are 57 male nurses and 44 female nurses, sweepers 65, ward assistants 35, operation theatre staff 12, laboratory technicians 12, and lab attendants 12.

In the year 2000, the then Telugu Desam government issued a GO No 134 upgrading the district hospital to general hospital but the GO was not implemented by the governments during the past 17 years.

The hospital is functioned with the strength of 350 beds. After its up-gradation to general hospital its bed strength increased to 500 but the staff strength was not proportionately increased. Added to it over the years the in-patients were increased to 1200 per day.

The out-patients who visit the hospital are 2000 per day. As per the GO 134, 510 new posts were sanctioned and out of them 134 were staff nurses. But these posts were not filled. Today one staff nurse is catering to 100-150 patients and one attender is catering to 3-4 wards. People's representatives of the district also failed to exert pressure on the government. 

Local MLA V.Prabhakar Choudhury  told 'The Hans India'  that the annual budget for medicines in the Government General Hospital is Rs.3.84 crores. He said that he would take up the issue of implementation of GO 134 with the government and the health minister concerned. General public, especially, low and middle-income sections are facing hardships while visiting the hospital.

By ravi p benjamin