‘Untrained paramedics impediment in healthcare’

LUCKNOW: Lack of trained paramedical staff has become an impediment in healthcare in the state capital, feel experts. A majority of the hospitals do not have trained staff and rely on them to learn on the job, posing a serious risk.

“Unfortunately this is the big- gest problem before hospitals in Lucknow. Paramedical staff applies for employment straight out of college and have no handson experience. It is unfortunate that authorities focus more on degrees and not on skill or experience,” said Dr Anoop Agrawal, secretary, Lucknow Nursing Home Association (LNHA).

Lucknow has about 700 hospitals and nursing homes employing at least 10,000 paramedical staff. Doctors say nearly half of them don’t have any real time knowledge of handing critical cases and the remaining just followed instructions blindly, compromising medical care.

“There is problem in teaching as well, as a majority of the paramedical colleges that have mushroomed in the past few years don’t conduct the number of classes prescribed by the state medical faculty,” said Dr Vinod Jain, senior KGMU faculty who is conducts paramedical courses at the medical university.

He said paramedical staff coming out of colleges did not have basic English and computer skills, which was now required in hospitals for speedy and error free medical care. “Patients have a direct impact of the poorly trained paramedical staff,” said Dr Jain.

The LNHA has now given a proposal to the state government to conduct tests for hospital staff working without a degree in hospitals and give them a certificate based upon their proficiency levels on the test. “This will ensure that hospitals have only trained staff,” said Dr Anoop Agrawal, secretary LNHA.

LUCKNOW HAS 10,000 PARAMEDICS, HALF OF WHOM DON’T HAVE REAL KNOWLEDGE OF CRITICAL CASES