BMC looks to improve services at its hospitals

CIVIC BODY TO HIRE 600 STAFF TO STRENGTHEN PERIPHERAL HOSPITALS; PLANS TO INVEST NEARLY RS 150 CRORE FOR UPLIFTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES IN THE CITY

In a bid to strengthen peripheral hospitals of the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is mulling to invest nearly Rs 150 crore for the upliftment of the health services in the city. The civic body intends to spend this amount for various purposes like recruiting around 600 new staffers in the various department of hopsital, purchasing machinery and enhancing the current infrastructure of the hospitals.

Due to lack of manpower more than 40 per cent of the patients from the peripheral hospitals are referred to the tertiary hospitals which create loads on these hospitals. “Currently the civic body has decided to recruit 600 blood bank employees, paramedical staff and administrative officers for which Rs 40 crore has been sanctioned,” said an official.

A senior doctor said most of the time periphery hospitals have the machinery to conduct CT or MRI scans but they lie under utilised due to lack of manpower. “Once this plan is been execute by the civic body it will decrease the burden on tertiary care hospitals, which act as referral centres due to lack of manpower or resources at periphery hospitals,” added the doctor.

As per the proposal majority of the new recruits will be deployed in the departments of radiology, pathology, microbiology and blood transfusion, which have the highest amount of patient footfall in terms of timely diagnosis. Apart from recruitment of staffers, the civic body will upgrade 10 peripheral hospitals on the basis of patient load, will also hire 126 additional operation theatre attendants and 124 assistants, to provide essential back up for the doctors performing critical surgeries.

A senior civic official said it is the first time, they have invested heavily in recruiting 573 paramedical staff who will provide timely emergency services for people who have met with major accidents and trauma. "Considering the growing cases of different types of accidents, the experts have also decided to raise the number of seats for occupational therapists. These would certainly help in handling trauma and accident cases better,” said a senior health official.

He added that they have also procured about 230 ventilator beds, which are going to be distributed among 25 periphery and major hospitals so that we increase hospitals’ capacity to handle emergencies. “While creating new services, we are making sure no two similar services come up in hospitals that are close by so that they are evenly distributed across the city,” said Idzes Kundan, additional municipal commissioner.