Date:07/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/07/stories/2006090719260300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

GH casualty ward wilting for lack of doctors

R. Sujatha

Duty staff under pressure with patient load on the increase

CHENNAI : Casualty wards in Government Hospitals here have not kept pace with the changing times and needs.

The rule that these wards would be allotted three casualty medical officers came into force in the early 1990s. Though there has been a huge increase in the number of patients to the casualty wards since then, there has been no increase in the number of doctors allotted to them.

Stanley Medical Hospital at Mint lists four casualty medical officers (CMOs) at the ward entrance, but the Government General Hospital, which sees a large number of accident patients walk in even late in the night, has only three. These doctors are on rotation and often do double duty, besides attending to court duties. Two more doctors were appointed, but apparently these new hands are being used to treat only special patients. The result: Treatment in casualty wards, touted as `zero delay wards,' is abnormally delayed. K. Prakasam, the president of Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association, says with the government inducting over 1,500 doctors recently, there should be no dearth of doctors in the casualty wards. An incentive to work in the casualty ward would be to make every new doctor work there for three years, which could be treated as service at a primary health centre. Those who work in the ward could also be given additional marks when they seek admission to postgraduate courses, he says.

Senior doctors in the casualty ward are under pressure. When doctors are called to give evidence in court in medico-legal cases, they are treated as being on duty.

The next day is technically their day off, but with not enough medical officers, they end up working without a break. Sometimes they have to appear in two different courts on the same day. If they do not respond to a court summons they are liable to be issued arrest warrants.

A senior doctor says hospitals of the stature of the GGH, which sees hundreds of patients walking in for even simple ailments, must have at least 15 CMOs, with two officers in every shift and at least half a dozen post graduate students.