Poor suffer as politics ruin the health services

This blogger read this news on the internet and a link was sent by one of the doctors of BJ Medical College, Pune. In the final analysis only the poor will suffer out of this rift. The journalist appears to have done a good job and exposed the truth behind the move,ofcourse unwise by all means. Why doesn't the minister Dr. Gavit clean the rot prevailing in all the state-run medical colleges? Why " incompetent and deadwood" are sent or kept for years in the prestigious BJ Medical College? Why the minister does not understand the consequences of that will follow due to the immediate move-over of doctors? Instead the minister should concentrate on providing better medical services and cleansing the medical colleges run hospitals of corrupt, inefficient, lazy and incompetent staff.

With the international negative exposure, the government is only tarnishing its image worldwide, repercussions which will be not healthy for the government. We pray and hope that things improve for the better.

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http://arabnews.com/world/article77459.ece

Rift between Congress, NCP ministers affect health services

By SHAHID RAZA BURNEY | ARAB NEWS

Published: Jul 2, 2010 21:41 Updated: Jul 2, 2010 21:41

MUMBAI: A rift between the no-nonsense Health Minister Suresh Shetty of the Congress party and Minister of Medical Education Vijay Kumar Gavit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has affected health services in 14 state-run hospitals attached to medical colleges.

Shetty has asked the Congress-led Democratic Front government to issue a government resolution to abolish 450 posts of medical superintendents, deputy medical superintendents, resident medical officers and others who perform administrative duties in these hospitals. The rift is over authority as these hospitals come under the Public Health Department (PHD) which is under Shetty's purview, while the medical colleges are under Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) which is controlled by Gavit.

Orders to relieve the 450 officers with immediate effect from the hospitals attached to the medical colleges were received on Friday by the PHD deputy directors in different regions of the state, and many personnel were relieved, which has lead to turmoil in the hospitals.

These 14 medical colleges cannot handle the huge volume of patients like the big hospitals, JJ Hospital in Mumbai and Sassoon in Pune.

The medical colleges have limited number of professors, associate professors, and lecturers and they cannot handle the dual role of teaching and handling patients and administrative work, said a senior PHD official.

Shetty's stand is that there is an acute shortage of doctors in rural areas and his decision to abolish these posts in the medical colleges where his department doctors were on deputation was to serve the poor masses in the rural areas. The PHD doctors would now be moved from the medical colleges and sent to serve in rural hospitals (RH) and primary health centers (PHC) said a deputy director of the PHD.

A senior PHD official told Arab News that the move to abolish the 450 posts was a result of the outbursts of a deputy medical superintendent of the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune from the PHD cadre against the controversial director of DMER and the dean of the hospital over taking over temporary charge as medical superintendent two months ago.

It is alleged that the deputy medical superintendent had a tiff with the director of DMER and abused him and the dean on phone. This peeved the director who took it up with Gavit and the secretary of medical education.

The director of DMER is also in trouble on various front including being alleged by a deputy dean of having fudged his age to continue in the job when all his juniors have retired.

The 450 doctors attached to the Maharashtra State Gaxetted Medical Officers Association have gone on casual leave throughout the state protesting the order to abolish their posts. "It is not the right time to transfer us out, as the schools and colleges have started and our children would be put to great hardship," said a resident medical officer.