THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The staff at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram are at loggerheads with the management over shortcomings affecting patient care and other services. Amid complaints of poor facilities to cater to the growing demands, the anomalies in pay structure and arbitrary promotions have led to many doctors leaving the organisation. Health Minister Veena George has called for a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue with the protesting staff and the management.
“The RCC had become a model for public sector hospitals in providing quality service. But over the past two decades, it has stopped growing in terms of infrastructure and staff pattern. As a result, patients suffer because they are forced to wait longer for operation and radiation treatments,” said a representative of the doctors’ association. He said a lot of good doctors have resigned from RCC due to the poor work environment. “All these issues need to be addressed.”
As many as 2.74 lakh people took treatment from RCC in 2018 -19. The numbers are only increasing, especially after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. The hospital gets over 15,000 new cases every year. One of the major complaints against RCC has been the poor stock of medicines.
“Patients have to purchase most of the medicines from outside. For a medicine that costs less than `10, they will have to take an autorickshaw and spend `60 to purchase it from outside,” said a volunteer for patients at RCC.
Though the doctors’ organisation had planned to organise a public protest on July 1, it was postponed due to the intervention from the health minister’s office. The doctors are aggrieved because their demand for improved salary structure has not been fulfilled. Though house rent allowance and travel allowance were expected to be restored, a recent government order stated otherwise.