Already plagued by staff shortage, transfer of senior doctors could hit Kozhikode MCH
A recent order of the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) transferring 20 doctors from the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, to the Government Medical College, Kasaragod, on a working arrangement basis ahead of an expected visit by the National Medical Commission (NMC) there, has raised several concerns.
This comes just weeks after around a dozen doctors were shifted to the Government Medical College, Wayanad, for a similar purpose. At that time, the transferred doctors belonged to the departments of anaesthesia, ophthalmology, gynaecology, paediatrics, pharmacology, microbiology, community medicine, anatomy, and forensic medicine, among others. They are still posted there as the NMC team is yet to visit the medical college in Wayanad.
This time, the transferred doctors are from departments such as paediatrics, psychiatry, orthopaedics, anaesthesia, gynaecology, general medicine, general surgery, physiology, community medicine, pathology, microbiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology.
According to sources, of the multiple units of doctors under the Department of General Medicine, the chiefs of two have been transferred so far, one to Wayanad and another now to Kasaragod. Apart from this, the department already has a vacancy of four assistant professors and three associate professors.
Of the 10 senior resident doctors required, seven are vacant. The vacancies happened after seven senior resident doctors were relieved of duty after they got admissions for super-speciality postgraduate courses. The department is yet to fill these posts. Though the Kozhikode medical college has 20 MD seats in general medicine, those who complete the course are being appointed as senior resident doctors in other places. From the department of orthopaedics, two associate professors and one professor have been transferred to Wayanad and Kasaragod. In the departments of community medicine and community medicine, the department heads themselves were shifted.
These transfers are happening at a time when the hospital is already suffering from a reported staff shortage and seeing a rise in the number of patients suffering from seasonal illnesses such as dengue fever, leptospirosis, viral fever, and Hepatitis A. Over 3,000 patients seek treatment every day at the outpatient department and over 600 at the casualty section.
The services at the casualty section attached to the new surgical super-speciality block is yet to be restored after the back-to-back fire outbreaks reported there in May. The casualty section is still functioning from the old block. The sources say that only limited facilities are available there and both the patients and the healthcare workers are having a tough time. The transfer of specialist doctors from the department of orthopaedics has reportedly affected the treatment of patients who suffer bone injuries during rain-related accidents.
The basic problem, according to an insider, lies with the staff pattern being followed. Though the number of patients, undergraduate, postgraduate and paramedical seats have gone up multiple times, the staff are being recruited based on the pattern devised in the 60s.
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