JOIN USShortage of specialists hits eye surgeries at Minto Hospital
For the last one year, Minto Eye Hospital, the only government ophthalmic facility in Karnataka, has been facing a severe shortage of senior specialists.
Out of the 11 senior specialists (those who have done MS), 10 have been transferred back to the parent department — Health and Family Welfare — leaving Minto with just one specialist to manage the super-speciality wing.
Medical Superintendent and Director of the hospital, T K Ramesh, told Deccan Herald that the doctors had been moved to the Health department, owing to shortage of specialists in villages. As a result, the remaining doctors and nursing staff have been overburdened and stressed, he said. Around 15-17 surgeries take place in the 300-bedded hospital every day.
“We have ensured that patients are not affected. We brought the matter to the notice of the government, but we are not sure when we are going to get the replacements,” he added.
The hospital, which will be upgraded to a super-speciality facility in the next couple of months, plans to run the newly created separate wings in a full-fledged manner. Separate wings have been created for cornea and eye bank, vitreoretina, glaucoma, paediatric ophthalmology, uro ophthalmology and oculoplasty. But without the specialists, these wings will face the same difficulty, Dr Ramesh said.
This apart, Minto Eye Hospital, along with Victoria, Vani Vilas and Bowring hospitals, wants the government to create a separate maintenance wing. Ramesh said that presently, there was only one engineer (estate officer) looking after repair and maintenance works in all the four hospitals.
This is hampering clinical work at the hospital. More often than not, there are power outages, plumbing problems and other repair works that need immediate attention, he said.
When contacted, Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil said his department would shortly find replacements for specialists who had been transferred. “I was not aware about the shortage at the hospital. The hospital is in the process of shifting to the new block. We have even started the new outpatient block. This matter will be addressed,” he said. He also said that the maintenance work would be entrusted back to the Public Works Department.