Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

MCH facing staff shortage

C. Maya

Vacancies remaining unfilled

Thiruvananthapuram: The Medical College hospital, one of the premier tertiary care institutions in the State, is reeling under an acute shortage of staff, which is threatening to upset the day-to-day running of the hospital.

Even though the Government issued orders recently ending the system of ‘dual administrative control’ of MCH staff, the order still remains on paper. The hospital, which caters to about 1,650 in-patients and thousands of out-patients daily, is still having to make do with the personnel deputed by the Health Service, on the basis of a staff pattern fixed way back in 1965.

In the absence of any special rules for staff recruitment in Medical Colleges, para medical staff continue to be appointed on the basis of some archaic administrative rules.

There are four categories of cleaning staff in the Medical College service – the Grade II Attenders, Grade I Attenders, Nursing Assistants and Other Attenders. The Grade II Attenders is the entry cadre and the rest are promotion posts.

Though there is an acute shortage of staff in all these categories, rules do not allow direct recruitment in any categories except Grade II.

The number of sanctioned Grade II posts is 193. MCH has only one permanent staff recruited through the PSC in this category. About 181 persons recruited by the District Medical Officer are working on daily wages in this category.

The vacancies in the categories above remain unfilled because there are no permanent hands in the feeder category (Grade II) who can be promoted to Grade I and above.

It was proposed that the daily wages staff in Grade II, many of whom have been working for over four years, be made permanent employees and promoted to fill the vacancies above. However, this has not been possible because the concurrence of Public Service Commission is required.

The Government also issued orders that Junior Public Health Nurses be posted as Nursing Assistants to make up for the shortage. However, this was thwarted by the employees’ unions who got the procedures stayed.

Not just daily cleaning, patient care is also affected owing to the shortage of nurses. About 270 out of the 283 sanctioned posts are filled. While the vacancies are few, the problem is that 283 nurses is hardly enough to cater to a hospital with an in-patient load of 1,650.

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