Staff shortage ails govt hospitals in Hyderabad

A single nurse takes care of 100 patients at Osmania General Hospital and the situation is no better in other government hospitals

​Hyderabad: For the past few days, sanitation workers at Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital (OGH), Government Maternity Hospital, Petlaburj and other hospitals are on strike as the workers have not been paid salaries since January.

The staff position of nurses is even worse and none of the government hospitals adhere to the Nurses Council of India (NCI) norms. Sample this: One nurse takes care of 100 patients at OGH. Vijaya Susheela, president, Telangana Government Nurses Association (TGNA), says that there is a requirement of 500 nurses but the government is not bothered.

Presently, 268 nurses work in shifts while the number of beds at OGH is 1,520. Seven years ago 20 wards were added but there has been no recruitment of nurses. The situation is no better at Niloufer Hospital. According to senior doctors, for the 1,000-bed hospital with 800-900 admissions per day, the hospital is functioning with hardly 50 per cent staff.

While admitting such human resource crisis to The Hans India, Dr K Ramesh Reddy, superintendent, Niloufer Hospital, said: “good news is in the offing as the government is about to sanction 588 regular staff his week with 254 nurses and 92 doctors.” But then a fortnight ago, Health Minister Dr C Laxma Reddy visited OGH and assured nursing staff that 143 posts would be increased but nothing has come of it.”

Senior doctors on condition of anonymity say that the government has been giving assurances for years but there is no change. In the case of Gandhi Hospital, there are close to 20 vacant posts, including Professor, Assistant Professor, Assistant Surgeons and tutors. From Monday to Wednesday the hospital gets between 1500- 1800 out-patients and there are at least 1800 in-patients for 1,012 beds.

According to Medical Council of India guidelines, for every five beds, one sister is to be appointed but each nurse has to take care of 25 to 30 beds at any given point of time.

The Government Maternity Hospital at Petlaburj is another hospital that requires a number of sanitation workers as one is greeted with rotten food strewn all over the place and in every floor. 69 sanitation workers have not been paid since January this year.

For a 462-bed strength hospital, it is severely understaffed. Out of the 410 posts, 156 posts are vacant in different categories. Out of the five vacant posts, three are vacant and out of 152 sanctioned class IV posts, more than 64 are vacant.