CONCERNS GROWING THAT HOSPITAL SYSTEM MAY BUCKLE UNDER PRESSURE
South Goa district hospital.
MARGAO
Doctors, nurses, and Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) at the 500-bedded South Goa District hospital cry for help as the hospital is facing manpower crisis.
They seemed to have a clear and urgent appeal to the government: "Please send the promised staff and save the hospital system from collapse."
Their plea comes as no surprise. Ever since the government increased the hospital’s bed capacity from 350 to 500 a month ago on August 22, the existing staff has been stretched beyond limits, struggling to meet the demands of the additional patient load.
The move to increase the bed strength was aimed at ensuring that no patient would be left to receive treatment on stretchers or wheelchairs — but it came without the necessary reinforcements in human resources.
The Goan understands that when the bed strength was increased to 500 on August 22 last, the government had promised to send additional 50 nurses and as many MTS staff, besides doctors.
Indeed, it has now been exactly a month since the bed strength was increased, yet the promised additional staff — doctors, nurses, and MTS — have not arrived. The current workforce has been left with no choice but to carry the extra burden, leading to growing concern that the hospital system may buckle under pressure.
“In the beginning, we responded to the call of duty with dedication and commitment, believing that the government would honour its promise,” said one hospital staffer. “But a month has passed, and there's still no sign of the additional manpower.”
Staff members say they have been repeatedly urging the hospital administration to follow up with the government, but those efforts have not yielded any results. “We were clearly assured that additional staff would be sent to handle the increased workload. Unfortunately, that assurance has yet to materialize.”
Added another staffer: “As it is, the hospital was understaff, but the staff have been maintaining the services. But, no new staff, be it doctors, nurses and MTS have been sent to the hospital to cope up with the additional work load”.
The pressure is more on the medicine and surgery wards and against this backdrop, the staffers hope the government will send the promised additional manpower to cater to the work load. “By increasing the bed strength to 500 beds, the hospital has toned up the infrastructure to meet the growing requirement. The government should ensure that the quality of treatment does not suffer due to the extra burden. Finally, the staffers are human beings and not machines. The system may collapse if urgent steps are not taken to address the manpower requirements”, informed a para-medic.
With the existing team now overwhelmed, the fear of systemic failure is rising by the day unless the government responds by sending the promised manpower to the district hospital.
