HYDERABAD: A recruitment drive is underway but shortage of nurses at Osmania General Hospital is set to continue as at least 450 more nurses are required to attend to thousands of patients who visit the government hospital in Hyderabad. In November, nurses at the hospital staged a protest demanding 700 more nurses to be recruited.
In the past few days, as many as 217 ‘Patient Care Service Providers’ were recruited on a contract basis. Nurses at the hospital said that though appointment of the service care providers will lessen their burden, more nurses have to be recruited and preferably on a regular basis. From November, ten more nurses retired and more would complete their term in coming months.
Apart from burdening the nurses, patient care too gets affected because of staff crunch as nurses said that they cannot perform to the best of their abilities as work is too heavy.
Nursing association unhappy
In November, OGH Nursing Association unit said that 250 staff nurses, 65 head nurses and one Grade-II nurse work at hospital and 700 more were required.
Earlier, president of Nursing Association-OGH Unit, T Vijaya Susheela said that though 20 wards were added in past five-years, number of nurses was not increased. She added that one nurse checks on 40 to 70 patients. Her colleagues said that earlier four staff nurses and one head nurse were allotted 40 patients in general wards.
Now, checking temperatures of all patients is not possible as it takes more than two-hours only to check temperatures of 40 patients.
“Our primary duty is Nursing Care which includes taking care of mouth, nails of patients, making their beds and treatment. Besides this, we make note of what doctors says about a patient’s condition, ensuring wards are cleaned. We used to focus on patient relationship,” said K Vijaya Nirmala, secretary of hospital’s Nursing Association.
The associations members said that they prefer nurses to be appointed on a regular basis rather than on contract basis as pay scale for employees of both categories vary. Regular nurses earn anywhere from `30,000, while contract employees are offered `12,000 or a little more.
Members said that since there is stark difference in salaries, contract nurses are not completely dedicated to their job.
When asked if regular nurses would be recruited, superintendent of the hospital Dr GVS Moorthy said that Telangana State Public Service Commission would know about it.