The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences is going to face extreme shortage of doctors in the next two months. Nearly 50 per cent of the faculty will be on leave.
“It’s a tricky situation. Doctors need holiday the way other professionals do. They need to accommodate their own leave according to other family members’ summer vacations. But summer is the time when diseases spread and patients feel the most harassed. They obviously expect better facilities that time,” said a senior doctor, who is going on a two-week leave.
The AIIMS administration has issued a circular to this effect. The letter, signed by the administrative officer, has asked the chief or head of all departments and centres to “ensure availability of 50 per cent faculty on duty during the entire period of summer vacation”.
Half of the faculty has been granted permission to take leave from May 16 to June 14, while the rest can avail the same from June 16 to July 15.
However, the administration has not provided any information to patients. None of the notice boards in the hospital carry information of shortage of doctors.
“It is not only lack of information. Some measures have to be adopted to ensure that the hospital functions normally. The recruitment of faculty is long pending. Now that recruitment has begun, the burden of more patients has increased manifold,” said a senior resident doctor.
The doctor said the administration can set up a helpline through which patients can be directed to the proper out-patient department and other sections, saving time for the staff.
