Night squads to help improve services at govt hospitals

This initiative comes in response to officials noting low bed occupancy in these hospitals and a growing trend of patients being referred to other facilities, especially during late-night hours

To enhance healthcare services during nighttime, the Public Health Department on Monday launched special night squads to monitor government hospitals across Pune, Solapur, and Satara districts. This initiative comes in response to officials noting low bed occupancy in these hospitals and a growing trend of patients being referred to other facilities, especially during late-night hours.

The new measure seeks to ensure medical teams are consistently available and emergencies are addressed without delay. (HT)

Health authorities highlight that most deliveries, trauma cases, and accident victims arrive at hospitals at night. Yet, the lack of doctors and essential staff during these hours often causes treatment delays, putting patients at risk. The new measure seeks to ensure medical teams are consistently available and emergencies are addressed without delay.

Following this, the deputy director of Health Services for the Pune Region, which includes Pune, Satara, and Solapur districts, Dr Bhagwan Pawar, has formed district-level and regional-level night squads. Each district will have three squads, while the region will have two. Each squad will comprise two members: a Class One doctor and a healthcare staff member from the National Health Mission (NHM) programme.

Dr. Pawar described the initiative as “first-of-its-kind,” aimed at improving occupancy at public hospitals, strengthening night-time healthcare services, and reducing unnecessary patient referrals. “The responsibility of each squad is to ensure that doctors, nurses, and emergency services are available and functioning during the night,” he said.

The Pune region has three district hospitals, nine sub-district hospitals, two women’s hospitals, 60 rural hospitals, 300 primary health centres, 1,400 sub-centres, as well as the Regional Mental Hospital, Regional Leprosy Hospital, and Regional TB Hospital. Collectively, these facilities have an indoor bed capacity of around 4,000, with night-time occupancy currently at about 40%, officials said.

Dr Pawar emphasised that the initiative is not just about occupancy figures. 

“We want to ensure that night services are fully functional so that no patient suffers due to a lack of treatment during golden hours. Most emergencies, including deliveries and accident cases, occur late at night,” he added.