Patient’s death: Now, docs appointed nodal officers for Ludhiana Civil Hospital depts

Tribune News Service

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, September 26

The incident occurred on August 27 at the Civil Hospital where a man lost his life after falling off the stretcher in a ward has caused lot of stir at the hospital. Three employees who were found negligent were suspended and yesterday, Principal Secretary Health Vivek Pratap Singh also visited the hospital and asked staff to follow SOPs with utmost care and responsibility.

Senior Medical Officer has issued guidelines for better functioning and management of the hospital.

Now, doctors have been appointed nodal officers for different departments and instructions have been issued to keep proper check on the working of the departments assigned to them. In case any nodal officer is sent any communiqué by the SMO, then he/she has to revert back within 24 hours.

On the other hand, doctors are not happy with the new arrangement. Already overburdened, they feel the responsibility was too much for them.

“We are already overburdened and the added responsibility of nodal officers will take a toll on us. Yesterday also during the visit of the Principal Secretary, we have put forward our demand for more staff to which he proposed to depute more staff from health centres where the footfall of patients is less,” said a doctor on the condition of anonymity.

On Monday when the Principal Secretary was asked if workload was the main reason behind the reluctance that doctors were not coming forward to join the government sector, he had said both treatment and prevention were the responsibilities of government doctors and both go side by side and could not be ignored.

The doctors had been made nodal officers of more than one departments such as one of the doctors has to take care of dengue and swine flu ward, house surgeons, hepatitis C, STEMI stroke and dialysis unit. Another is responsible for oxygen generation plant, ICU and isolation ward.

Unhappy with arrangement

Doctors at the Civil Hospital are not happy with the new arrangement. Already overburdened, they feel the responsibility will put more burden on them. “We are already overburdened and the added responsibility of nodal officers will take a toll on us," said a doctor.