The District Combined Hospital, which is a main government health facility in Ghaziabad is functioning with only five doctors even though there are sanctioned posts for 22 doctors in total.

 

There are no general or orthopedic surgeons at the hospital, though there are two posts for each specialty. The hospital does not even have a cardiologist.

 

According to the sources, the five doctors are forced to attend the OPDs as well as emergency cases due to the absence of emergency medical officers. Eventually, patients are at the receiving end due to the long waiting hours.

 

The hospital officials had approached the government several times mentioning the shortage of doctors, but in vain. Even though the authorities had promised to improve the healthcare facilities in the state due to the increasing number of COVID cases, the number of doctors is steadily decreasing at the Combined Hospital. In such a situation, the hospital doesn’t have any choice and hence refer patients to other healthcare facilities.

 

Officials said that the chief medical superintendent Sanjay Teotia had already written to the health department and the minister of state for health, Atul Garg, to explain them of the current situation. He had also mentioned that due to the absence of specialist doctors, surgeries cannot be performed.

 

Approximately 100 surgeries were being performed at the Combined Hospital every month, but not a single surgery has been done recently. Surgery cases are referred to District MMG Hospital and healthcare facilities in Delhi.

 

Besides surgeons, there is a huge shortage of specialist doctors and emergency medical officers (EMOs) also. Only one EMO against the sanctioned post of four EMO’s in the emergency ward and three in the trauma centre is working.

 

When contacted, chief medical superintendent Teotia said that he is in talks with the health department and expects to get new doctors soon. He also informed that the average daily footfall at the hospital was around 1,200.

 

The Combined Hospital has resumed its normal duties in the starting of February after serving as an L2 COVID facility for more than nine months.

 

Source: ET Healthworld