Kerala - Alappuzha   

Doctors’ stir: patients’ plea to government

ALAPPUZHA: The Kerala Patients Welfare Forum State Committee has requested the Government to intervene and sort out the issues with the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) and avoid strikes by the association.

Pointing out that the KGMOA had announced yet another agitation, this time a one-day strike on Thursday demanding implementation of specialty administrative cadre with revised pay-scales, the Welfare Forum said such strikes were affecting patients, particularly in Alappuzha.

The public from Alappuzha, Kuttanad, Haripad, Cherthala, Mannancherry and Muhamma depended on the District General Hospital and the Medical College Hospital here due to lack of private healthcare facilities in the district.

Moreover, these hospitals were already short on staff and infrastructure, which meant any sort of strike would only add to the woes of the public.

The Alappuzha General Hospital, the Forum observed, had registered a four-time increase in the number of patients over the last few months, owing to the spread of viral fevers.

At least a thousand people come to the General Hospital for outpatient facilities every day while the inpatients are three times the number of available beds at any given point of time.

The pharmacy wings of both these hospitals were facing shortage of drugs as well, while several equipment were either not available or defunct.

The pharmacies were also not open round the clock due to shortage of staff.

Keeping these circumstances in mind, the Government should ensure that the issues with the KGMOA and the doctors are settled amicably and more importantly, at the earliest, the Forum said.

This is not the first time that the Patients Welfare Forum has come forward pointing out deficiencies in State-run hospitals in the district headquarters.

Memoranda have been submitted to authorities, including Medical Council of India officials, calling for improving the treatment facilities at the hospital.

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