Private hospitals in Kolkata struggle with truant doctors

Prithvijit Mitra | TNN | Updated: Apr 14, 2020, 07:48 IST

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KOLKATA: Several private hospitals in the city are grappling with the issue of non-attendance of frontline health workers, many of who have refused to serve at Covid-19 isolation units, fearing transmission.
While one of the hospitals is contemplating disciplinary action against a section of its doctors and nurses, another said it didn’t wish to “antagonize doctors by taking action against them”, even though they were “afraid to work” at its Covid-19 unit and have been frequently staying away, throwing its roster haywire.
The former hospital said it will write to the health department asking it to make attendance compulsory for all health workers at isolation units across the state’s hospitals.
Around 30% of frontline health workers — including several doctors and nurses — haven’t been attending duty at the Covid-19 isolation ward of a private hospital in New Town. This has forced the authorities to rejig the work schedule of the others to make sure that the 10-bed unit keeps functioning. Several suspects have been treated at the unit, and the authorities are now worried about attending to them.
“Since the pandemic started, many of our doctors and nurses have been irregular, and some have just not turned up,” said a senior official. “While a scare is understandable, they can’t run away from duty. We have provided protective gear. But it seems that is not enough.”
Nurses, the official alleged, were taking advantage of the fact that they now had enough job options to risk disciplinary action. “Honestly, there are far too many jobs for them at government hospitals, which has negated disciplinary threats. In such a situation, the state government should intervene and make it a rule that no one can refuse to work at isolation units. We are, in fact, planning to write to the government,” he added.
The hospital has been producing its own PPEs to make sure it never runs short. Even this has failed to get all doctors back. “This is a crisis period and we need support from everyone. But on behalf of the company, we will certainly take action against them,” said the official.
At the other hospital, authorities were finding it difficult to prepare a roster of doctors and nurses for its Covid-19 unit that started functioning last week. The hospital needs 16 doctors on duty every week in three shifts for the 50-bed unit. “But manpower is a huge issue now, and people are scared to work at the building,” said a hospital official. “But we don’t want to further antagonize them. We are anyway having a hard time maintaining a roster.”
Another south Kolkata private hospital reported that several of its senior doctors had stopped coming. The authorities said they were struggling to provide substitutes, even though the number of patients had dropped sharply. “We are working with a severely depleted workforce and those on duty are under stress,” said a hospital spokesperson.
One more private facility said its doctors were reluctant to screen patients for Covid-19, despite each health worker being regularly provided with PPEs.
Nurses, the official alleged, were taking advantage of the fact that they now had enough job options to risk disciplinary action. “Honestly, there are far too many jobs for them at government hospitals, which has negated our disciplinary threats. In such a situation, it is the state government that should intervene and make it a rule that no one can refuse to work at isolation units. We are, in fact, planning to write to the government, informing it about our plight,” he added.
The hospital has been producing its own PPEs to make sure it never runs short. Even this has failed to get all doctors back. “This is a crisis period and we need support from everyone. But on behalf of the company, we will certainly take action against them. Not reporting for work at a time like this can only be compared to running way from the battlefield. We are feeling let down,” said the official.
At the other hospital, authorities were finding it difficult to prepare a roster of doctors and nurses for its Covid-19 unit that started functioning last week. The hospital needs 16 doctors on duty every week in three shifts for the unit, which has 50 beds. “But manpower is a huge issue now, and people are scared to work at the building,” said a hospital official, adding that it was not planning any disciplinary action against absconding staff. “We don’t want to further antagonize them. We are anyway having a hard time maintaining a roster.”
Labour manpower and material for engineering and maintenance has also turned a challenge, said an official of a private hospital off EM Bypass. “It has become difficult to get repairmen and maintenance staff for regular jobs. The latter are scared to work in a hospital, and this will remain a worry as long as the lockdown is in place,” he said.
Another private hospital in south Kolkata reported that several of its senior doctors had stopped coming since the lockdown. The authorities said they were struggling to provide substitutes for them, even though the number of patients — both at the OPD and in admissions — has dropped sharply. “We are working with a severely depleted workforce and those on duty are under stress,” said a hospital spokesperson.
One more private facility said its doctors were reluctant to screen patients for Covid-19, despite each health worker being regularly provided with PPEs.