VISAKHAPATNAM: The acute shortage of nursing staff and doctors at the recently inaugurated Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) is creating problems for both administration officials as well as patients.
Currently, the VIMS is running with nine departments - Neurology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Plastic surgery among others. Though the VIMS has facility for 500 beds, it runs with 50 beds now. There are around 30 staff nurses, who work in three shifts, which means, around 10 work per shift.
“It’s really hard to manage with 10 nurses per shift. During night there are emergency cases, which are tough to handle with the staff and if some take leave, then the situation turns crisis.
There are a few theatre complexes and each theatre complex needs six staff nurses,” said a staff nurse on condition of anonymity. According to the staff nurses in the VIMS, there are not even adequate number of workers (helpers) due to which they have been facing more problems.
The VIMS has just six or seven workers, while there is a need of at least 30 to 40 for the existing departments. “There are no workers some times to bring patients (emergency cases) on stretchers. We do that as we do not have any option. Workers are required to bring medicines and run errands during emergencies. The six or seven workers present here mostly stay at the administrative block. A few in the nights consume alcohol which irritate us,” said another nurse.
Besides the problems of staff nurses and workers, there are just 33 doctors working in shifts in the hospital and the total includes just 12 senior doctors, while the rest are faculty. Sources said that the requirement at present is around 50 to 60.
Officer on special duty (VIMS) P Sudhakar too admitted that there was a staff crunch, but according to him, it’s for only some departments.
He said that there was a dire need of doctors in the Endocrinology, Nephrology, Gastrenterology and Neuro-surgery. “We already wrote a letter to the higher authorities about the doctors crunch and the officials are pursuing the issue and will recruit to fill the vacancies,” he added.
At present the out-patient block is being run and there are around 30 in-patients. The NTR Vaidya Seva facility was recently permitted for the VIMS patient.