Staff shortage hits services at Central Hospital for Beedi Workers

Even as various steps are being taken by the state government and the district administration, to manage the Covid-19 crisis, the lack of adequate healthcare professionals and the lack of commitment among a section of them, is becoming a cause for concern.

The Central Hospital for Beedi Workers on Mahadevapura Main Road in the city, is a Covid Care Centre, a Covid Vaccination Centre and also a Covid Mitra dispensary. But, there are no sufficient doctors and nurses to take care of the patients.

The concerned people’s representatives had to take up the issue with District Health Officer (DHO) Dr T Amarnath and warn him of staging a protest, if doctors were not posted to the prime government hospital under Narasimharaja (NR) Assembly constituency.

Besides six doctors who were posted on May 1, the DHO assured of posting another seven doctors. But, among the total 13 newly-posed doctors, only one is an Allopathy doctor. The remaining are all Ayurveda doctors.

Former corporator and secretary of Mysuru Beedi Workers’ Association K C Showkath Pasha said, “There are 45 Covid inpatients, including 16 of them on oxygenated beds, at the Central Hospital for Beedi Workers. The situation was grim on Wednesday, as only one doctor, Dr Munavar, and a nurse were on night shift. We were worried, as there were no adequate staff, in case of an emergency.”

“On Thursday, all corporators and leaders of the areas, met the DHO and demanded posting of more doctors, to treat Covid patients at the Central Hospital for Beedi Workers. There were no doctors and nurses for the night shift on Wednesday. All doctors and nurses, who were on duty for more than 10 days, till Tuesday, relieved themselves, as per the Covid protocol, as a precautionary measure. Thus, only Dr Munavar, along with a newly-recruited operation theatre (OT) trained nurse, was doing the rounds on Wednesday night. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened,” said Pasha.

Dr Munavar said, “The situation eased on Thursday, as a couple of doctors turned up. With more postings by the DHO, we may be able to provide proper care to the Covid patients Friday onwards.”

Pasha said, “The entire building of the Central Hospital for Beedi Workers was taken over by the government, under disaster management, with the efforts of MLA Tanveer Sait. The complete infrastructure was developed by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and other departments concerned. Sufficient medicine supply is provided and the system has been upgraded by spending lakhs of rupees, with the efforts of Sait. The only problem is non-availability of doctors.”

“Tanveer Sait held several meetings with District In-charge Minister S T Somashekar, Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri and MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag to upgrade the hospital to the standards of the district hospital, for the benefit of the people residing in and around the NR Assembly constituency,” he said.