Docs not willing to join govt hospitals’

 Docs not willing to join govt hospitals’

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22.01.2022

Asenior health officer said that the state government has on the floor of the state assembly announced that they are not getting any super specialist doctors. He said thatthe formerhe alth m inister Nitin Patel had made it clear that not many were willing to join the government sector and were not willing to serve in rural areas. The officersaidthat it is a lso a factthat lack of adequate remuneration is also a factor for doctors and super specialists not opting to work in the government sector.

Another officer said that it has also been obse rved that two or three super speciality doctors join hands and open their own hospital which turns out to be more benefici- al. The government has also started r ecruitingsuperspecialists on a part-time basis, but desp ite this it has failed to attract m uch talent.

Asuperintendent of a civil hospital in Saurashtra said, “In the absence of such super specialists, especially gynaecologists, the hospital has a committee which empowers the hospital to acquire the services of the specialists by pay- ing a fixed amount. Such a committee,known as Rogi Kalyan Samiti, is headed by the respective collectors and hence in a majority of the district hospitals, such practice is widespread as no doctor is willing to joinfull time. ”

Moreover these super specialist doctors prefe r to stay more in urban cities than the rural areas away from the district headquarters.

Guj stares at 99% shortage of super specialists in govt hosps

Of Required 1,392, Shortfall Put At 1,379

Ahmedabad:At a time when the state is battling a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, it is faced with an alarming deficit of super specialists in government hospitals.

Going by government data itself, Gujarat is faced with a 99% shortfall in super specialist doctors like surgeons, paediatricians, obstetricians-gynaecologists and the like.

This deficit of specialist doctors is the highest among all major states of the country. If Gujarat was compared to all states, it is ranked second from bottom with only Mizoram faring worse than Gujarat.

According to data released in the Handbook of Statistics of India States (20202021) by the Reserve Bank of India, Gujarat has a requirement of 1,392 super specialists, and its shortfall is 99% at1,379. Among all states, only Mizoram fares worse with a 100% shortfall against the requirement of 36 super specialists. All other states fare better than Gujarat in terms of the deficit of super specialists in government healthcare systems.

Maharashtra (64%), Mad- hya Pradesh (96%), Rajasthan (80%), Bihar (46%), Uttar Pradesh (71%) West Bengal (54%) and several other states have a lesserpercentage of deficit of super specialists as compared to Gujarat.

The data reveals that against the required 1,392 surgeons, physicians, paediatricians and obstetrician-gynaecologists, Gujarat has only sanctioned 268 posts and of these there are only 13 posts that are filled.

However, when it comes to appointing doctors in primary health centres, the state has sanctioned 1,869 posts of which1,490 are filled. The state has a shortage of 379 doctors in PHCs against the sanction posts.