BENGALURU: Around 18,000 deliveries in the city happen in BBMP hospitals -- 27 maternity homes and six referral hospitals -- every year. These facilities are located in thickly populated areas, mostly slums, and cater largely to the disadvantaged sections of society. These deliveries account for one-third the number of births that happen at government hospitals run by the Health Department in the city, but face acute staff crunch.
These homes, though called 24/7 health centres, are starved of manpower, so much so that only one nurse is available at any given point of time and a gynaecologist is available only between 8 am and 4 pm. After that, she is called only if it’s a complicated delivery. Else, the patient is sent to the nearest referral hospital.
Twenty-three gynaecologists are stretched between 33 health facilities in the city. While nurses alternate between 12-hour and 8-hour shifts, gynaecologists work 18-hour shifts at least four times a month at the referral hospitals, which requires four post-duty offs. This leads to their absence in maternity homes at least 12 days in a month (including four Sundays).
Express visited the maternity homes in Palace Guttahalli, Devara Jeevanahalli (DJ Halli) and Thimmaiah Road after 4 pm and found one nurse manning the facilities. Ideally, each maternity home should have at least six staff nurses and two doctors running the place round the clock.
Just three nurses for 10 years
One of the three wards in the maternity home on Thimmaiah Road has been closed and it now has just 16 beds, instead of 24. “For ten years now, there have been only three nurses. It doesn’t have an ultrasound machine, a clerk or a lab technician. We can’t avail leave as, if one of us is absent, the other one has to work 12-hour shifts continuously. We have been hearing that appointments will be made under National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) but nothing has been done so far. All this for `30,000 to `35,000. Now the authorities ask ‘you don’t get more than 25-30 deliveries a month, then why the demand for additional staff’,” said a nurse at the hospital.
16 beds and just one patient
At Palace Guttahalli, there are two eight-bedded wards but there was only one patient on Wednesday evening. Nurse Veena H had just finished her shift at 4 pm. The senior-most in the facility, she said, “We get to know if the patient will have a normal delivery or not. We observe them for six hours. If it’s complicated, we call the gynaecologist or refer her to the Siddaiah Road Referral Hospital.”
Nurse looking after three patients
The maternity home in DJ Halli is one of the 10 in BBMP limits that sees more than 50 deliveries a month. It has four nurses, a gynaecologist and a paediatrician. When Express visited it, gynaecologist Dr Jyothilakshmi was on leave and the nurse is looking after three patients. In November, the hospital saw 58 deliveries. The on-duty nurse says she sees patients as young as 22 having their fourth child. The home had a stillbirth recently.
In all, BBMP has recorded nine stillbirths and three infant deaths in its 33 hospitals. BBMP Clinical Health Officer Nirmala Buggi said additional posts have been sanctioned but they are waiting for the official order.