Shortage of manpower blamed for clashes between doctors, attenders
CHENNAI: Two days after a doctor was assaulted by a patient attender in Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, a meeting of the hospital doctors has identified shortage of staff in the hospital as the root cause of the issue.
Attenders accompanying the patients have to run from pillar to post since there are usually very less people to man the wards and this frustrates them attenders, sometimes making them to assault doctors or other hospital staff, doctors said.
The meeting took place on Tuesday with the Director of Medical Education chairing it.
“Usually, only one staff nurse and doctor would be posted for two floors in the night hours, which in total has nearly eight wards. So, every time the patients’ attenders have to walk up and down the building searching for the staff nurse or the doctor.
“Due to this, the treatment of patients gets delayed and causes frustration for attenders. They end up showing their anger at the duty doctor,” said a doctor at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. Most of the assaults on doctors occurs only at night.
“The Stanley Medical College Hospital has only over 80 security personnel and over 200 contract workers which is nothing when compared to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital where over 1,000 workers and over 400 security personnel are in place. Often, there would be no worker to even push the stretcher, and only the attender has to perform these tasks,” the doctor said.
A few of them were of the opinion that arresting the attenders who attack doctors is not the solution. “This problem can’t be resolved unless the root cause of the triggering points are addressed,” another doctor told Express.
The Director of Medical Education is likely to have another meeting with the PG and trainee doctors to further discuss about the issue on Wednesday.
G Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality, said “Administrative flaws should be addressed. Also, the Hospital Protection Act is not being implemented effectively. Lack of manpower and other services is the root cause of the problem,” he said.
The Director of Medical Education A Edwin Joe said, “We are also planning to form a doctors team for patrolling the hospital. If there are more than one attender for a patient, they will be asked to leave.”