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GMCH-32 staff crunch hits ₹5lakh PM-JAY health cover scheme
GMCH has two employees to register the patients, a process which hospital staff say requires at least eight employees completing three shifts in 24 hours
Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme offering ₹5lakh health cover to families from economically weaker sections has been hit as the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, does not have enough staff to register patients during night hours.
All energies are directed at combating Covid-19, hospital authorities say.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY) under Ayushman Bharat offers secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population.
However, GMCH-32, the only tertiary care hospital under the UT administration, has two employees to register the patients, a process which hospital staff say requires at least eight employees completing three shifts in 24 hours.
Though the matter has been brought to the UT administration’s notice through an online complaint filed by 22-year-old social activist Vaibhav Gupta, no measures have been taken to rectify the problem.
“Patients with Ayushman Bharat Scheme Card can avail of services from 9pm to 5pm, but not at night when the counters close, which can be very inconvenient for patients, especially during emergencies,” Vaibhav said .
Admitting that the staff crunch was making things difficult, hospital medical superintendent Dr Ravi Gupta said, “We are sorting it out and have also asked for staff from director health services, who is also the CEO of Ayushman here. But as all our energies are diverted towards dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic many services are unavailable.”
However, he was optimistic that authorities would soon find a way out of the problem.
