DH's report on shortage of docs in ESIC hospitals mentioned in LS

 A Deccan Herald report about shortage of doctors in Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals found mention in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Monday.

Citing a DH report from Mangalore of July 8 about shortage of doctors hitting the ESIC hospital there, Trinamool Congress MP Ratna De (Nag) said the problem was not a rare phenomenon.

"We come across news items to this effect very often. I read a DH item of July 8 that shortage of staff hits ESI hospital. It is astonishing to note that out of 27 posts of doctors, 20 are lying vacant; and ten posts of clerks are lying vacant. How can any government shut its eyes to such a glaring lacunae?" she asked.

The MP, who is elected from Hoogly, wanted to know whether the Government would consider appointing part-time staff to attend to ESI hospitals and dispensaries so that the employees are not affected in any manner due to lack of amenities and facilities.
She sought to know when the last recruitment was done for filling up of staff vacant positions in ESI hospitals.

Labour and Employment Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Lok Sabha that of the sanctioned strength of 1,878 at the 36 ESIC hospitals across the country, 478 posts of general duty medical officers were lying vacant .

He blamed the non-availability of applicants and high attrition rates for the problem. The crisis is apparently even bigger at the level of specialists and super specialists as vacancies stood at close to 50 per cent.

As many as 349 of these posts out of the total sanctioned numbers of 779 lay vacant, Tomar said in a written reply to a question. Out of the total 11,770 posts of nursing and paramedical staff in these hospitals, there were 3,813 vacancies. “Steps have been taken to fill up the vacancies which includes conversion of 40 per cent posts of GDMO to senior residents and sanction of 10 additional posts of senior residents per 100 bed hospitals,” he said.