KOLLAM: While rain-related diseases continue to soar and the queues in front of hospitals prolong subsequently, over 60 vacancies of doctors remain unfilled in government hospitals across the district.
Over 1,500 outpatients visit these hospitals on an average while several taluk hospitals lack sufficient beds and supporting facilities to accommodate inpatients.
Taluk hospital in Kadakkal has only five doctors attending the patients while four posts remain vacant. The vacancies of doctors in taluk hospitals at Sasthamkotta, Neendakara, Nedungolam and Kundara also remain unfilled. The district hospital has only three physicians available while another three posts are lying vacant.
“Most of the taluk hospitals in the district don’t have the service of casualty doctors or even such a post. Ward duty doctors or specialist doctors take care of the emergency department in the absence of dedicated doctors. The government is not even ready to appoint specialised doctors in ENT, skin, eye diseases and psychiatry,” said Dr S. Jyothilal, thye KGMOA district president.
The district hospital also put hardships on patients as it lacks basic amenities and non-maintenance of existing facilities.
The cardiac ward is the worst example with no beds for even patients in critical conditions. The ward adjacent to the ICU has the patients lying on the bare floor in unhygienic conditions.
Meanwhile, the patients also demand functioning of the out-patient services in government hospitals on Sundays to meet the prevailing emergency situation of rain-spread diseases.
This also has hiked the number of patients visiting the hospitals on Monday, doubling the work pressure of the hospital staff.
