Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Anaesthesiologist vacancies at GRH causing surgery slowdown
MP Su. Venkatesan is seized of the shortage issue


28/08/2019, SANJANA GANESH,MADURAI

Doctors from various departments of the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) stated that though the institution was expanding in size and scale, it lacks anaesthesiologists in the cadre of assistant professors to increase the number of surgeries performed in a day.

A senior professor from the Anaesthesiology department on the condition of anonymity said that at least 40 emergency surgeries are performed in a day.

To cater to these surgeries, only 18 assistant professors are present.

Overburdened

“Regular operation theatre hours stretch between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. On a day without absentees, a total of 14 assistant professors work during this shift. These senior residents become overburdened,” he said.

Although nine senior professor posts were recently filled in the department, they barely make it to day-to-day surgeries, said a senior oncologist.

He added that data regarding deliveries at the GRH were released recently which stated that of the 1,000 deliveries in a month, 440 were caesarean.

“Anaesthesiologists aid in a total of 12-17 surgeries a day. Apart from this they also deal with emergency cases in various other departments like ours which have five such surgeries,” he said.

A senior cardiologist from the GRH said that doctors had been demanding more posts for this speciality for four years now.

‘Need of the hour’

“With a rise in the number of operation theatres and specialities, more assistant professors are the need of the hour,” he said.

The Anaesthesiology professor noted that Medical Council of India had allocated the number of anaesthesiologists according to the number of medical seats which was 150 until 2018 but was increased to 250 this year.

“Considering we are the referral centre for all of Southern Tamil Nadu, we have an extensive workload. The number of surgeries should be taken into account,” he said.

He added that Stanley Medical College which functions with the same capacity has at least 60 anaesthesiologists. “If we have a total of 35, it should be comfortable,” he said.

The issue was recently raised to MP Su. Venkatesan who had inspected the hospital premises. “All doctors have brought this problem up. We will take it to the State government at the earliest,” he said.

GRH Dean K. Vanitha said that a petition had already been submitted to the State government seeking more staff based on workload and number of surgeries.

“The government is likely to act on it soon,” she said.

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