As per Delhi government’s Corona app, there are 256 patients admitted in the hospital availing treatment for Covid-19.
The Delhi government’s Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) hospital has been facing acute shortage of senior resident doctors for the last four years, an issue which has been flagged by the top faculty members to the administration. At present, 95 posts of senior resident doctors are lying vacant at the hospital which has been converted into a Covid-only facility last month.
As per Delhi government’s Corona app, there are 256 patients admitted in the hospital availing treatment for Covid-19. The teachers’ association of University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) has written a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University to expedite the recruitment process of the doctors working in the hospital attached with the varsity.
“Despite repeated reminders in non-Covid times and earlier letter during the lockdown period, we haven’t seen any progress. Due to this delay, there is a shortage of doctors in UCMS and GTB hospital which has serious ramifications during the Covid crisis,” stated the letter to the V-C.
According to the sources, not a single faculty member or a senior resident doctor has been recruited in the medical college since 2017. In February this year, the institute had advertised the posts for senior residents but the process was delayed due to the lockdown. According to senior doctors, the delay in the hiring process will hamper medical services at the hospital which is now on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Since the last four years, there has been no recruitment of senior doctors in the UCMS. The requirements are as per the department and the Medical Council of India (MCI) and has not been fulfilled for the last few years. The hospital has recently been converted into a Covid-only facility and now it is extremely important to fill in the vacancies. The hospital has seen the highest attrition rate with around 40-50 faculty doctors leaving the hospital in the last 10 years,” said Dr Amir Khan Maroof, president of the UCMS teacher’s association.
In the absence of senior resident doctors, the first and second-year postgraduate medical students were deputed in the duties for Covid-19. On May 29, the Delhi government converted the hospital into a Covid-only facility with a capacity of 1,500 beds.
“The recruitments are performed by the UCMS through Delhi University. If the doctors would have been recruited by now then they would have played an important role. The number of posts lying vacant for senior demonstrators and senior residents at the attached medical college of GTB Hospital in the year 2017 was 59 and it has increased to 98 at present. Not even a single faculty member has been recruited since 2017,” said Dr Satendra Singh, vice-president of UCMS’s teachers’ association.
Dr A K Jain, principal of UCMS, also acknowledged the problem adding that the university is soon going to fill up the vacancies. “The age eligibility for senior residents was changed by the Government of India due to which there have been some alterations in the process. The upper limit, which was 33 years, has now been changed to 40 years. We are waiting for approval from the DU which is expected to come in the next two days. Soon after that, we will issue a corrigendum after which the process will take one more week to start.”