Punjab set to face med staff shortage

Punjab set to face med staff shortage

7,500 Medicos To Be Relieved By Sept 30

Vinod.Kumar3@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh:22.06.2020

Already struggling to cope with limited availability of human resources in the fight against Covid-19, the Punjab government is staring at possible acute shortage of manpower as about 7,500 medical professionals on extension will be relieved by September  30. 

Though the Punjab government is confident of filling the posts falling vacant before the medical professionals on extension are relieved of their duties, it seems an uphill task there is only three-month time to complete the recruitment process, which has not even yet started.

The recruitment process will kick start after getting a nod from the state cabinet, which is scheduled to meet next week. Earlier this year, the state government had abolished the provision of granting two-year extension in service due to financial crunch. Keeping in mind staff shortage and to effectively control the coronavirus outbreak, the cabinet had decided to grant extension in service to doctors and paramedic staff till September 7 30, which included about 150 doctors.

As the government is left with little time at hand, a delegation of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) had last week held a meeting with health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu with a request to fill the posts at earliest and not to grant extension to retiring staff. PCMSA, a body which represents government doctors, fears that the government might not be able to complete the recruitment process in time. “Recruitment is a lengthy process as it involves several steps right from advertising posts, inviting applications, shortlisting of potential candidates and interviews,” said president of PCMSA Dr Gagandeep Singh. The process should have been initiated after the decision to grant sixmonth extension was granted, he added.

Sidhu, on the other hand, sounded confident about filling all the posts before September 30. “After getting approval from the cabinet, the recruitment will be complete well before medical professionals on extension are relieved on September 30,” said Sidhu.

Punjab is facing a rapid rise in the number of Covid-19 and due to limited resources the existing staff members and doctors engaged in the fight against coronavirus are already overstretched. Against the sanctioned strength of 2,340 MMBS doctors, there are about 2,100 doctors. Only about 150 posts of specialists doctors — surgeons, gynaecologists, physicians and paediatricians — are filled out of 496 sanctioned posts. To overcome the shortage, around 750 doctors of rural department are working with the health department, while about 450 ayurveda doctors are also at the disposal of the health department.

The government has also decided to use the services of rural and ayush doctors in sample collection.The health department has also roped in qualified volunteers. Around 30,000 qualified health professionals, including 1,000 doctors, have volunteered to assist the Punjab government, giving much needed push to the overstretched workforce in the time of need.

Help staff in recouping

A high-powered committee of experts constituted by the government had called for the need to take steps for helping the medical staff overcome fatigue due to long duty hours amongst infected patients and emotional trauma.