Healthcare in DHH gets boost as MCH manpower renders services

ROURKELA: Functioning of the Sundargarh District Headquarters Hospital (SDHH) as the Sundagarh Government Medical College & Hospital’s attached hospital (SGMCH) has witnessed improvement in delivery of healthcare services with the medical college faculty members rendering their services.

As the hospital of the newly opened SGMCH is yet to become functional,  the SDHH has been made the designated hospital for the SGMCH as a temporary arrangement to meet the compulsory criteria. Accordingly, of the SGMCH’s about 80 faculty, around 60 clinical faculty members have been rendering hospital duty at the SDHH. 

SDHH sources said it was largely suffering from overload of patients amid inadequate doctors. But in the past couple of months the situation has improved with additional clinical manpower from SGMCH rendering their services. They said the rush at the Outdoor Patient Department and casualty has effectively been reduced with availability of more doctors, while the SDHH has also become capable of providing some advanced medical care which was not the case previously due to manpower constraint. 

Referral of patients from the SDHH to other medical colleges for critical care has visibly reduced due to presence of professors, associate professors and assistant professors at the SDHH, they added. Sundargarh Chief District Medical & Public Health Officer (CDM&PHO) Dr SK Mishra said the SDHH has started performing critical surgeries and the number of surgery cases too has increased.

“A 10-bed ICU would shortly come up at the SDHH, while the casualty beds would be increased from six to 30 to meet the guideline of the National Medical Commission (NMC). The SDHH has necessary medical equipment and facilities though earlier there was manpower shortage,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SGMCH’s own 500-bed hospital at its main sophisticated campus at Sankara of Sundargarh town is likely to become functional in less than six months. During a review visit to the SGMCH on Tuesday,  Health & Family Welfare Secretary Shalini Pandit insisted on expeditious completion of remaining minor works of the new hospital building. It is learnt, after the SGMCH’s own hospital becomes functional to render tertiary care,  the 330-bed SDHH would continue to operate as a district hospital.