Pune: With around 400 beds kept non-operational in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) hospitals due to shortage of staff and facilities, patients are thronging the Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), forcing officials to make flood beds or accommodate the excess patients in other wards, according to SGH officials.
According to civic officials, there are 21 municipal hospitals with indoor facilities housing 1,400 beds. Of these, 400 beds (30%) are non-operational and 1,000 (70%) are operational. Of the 1,000 operational beds, 380 beds (38%) are reserved for maternal care. Furthermore, the bed occupancy at PMC-run hospitals remains around 75% given the shortage of staff and facilities.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health officer, PMC, said that Kamala Nehru Hospital which has 275 beds is the only general hospital, whereas the remaining civic facilities are primary-level hospitals. “The Naidu Hospital is a hospital for patients with infectious diseases and has 50 beds which will be upgraded to 100. As most of the hospitals are primary-level hospitals, patients prefer to go to tertiary care hospitals,” he said.
According to SGH officials, the gynaecology and surgery departments have a high number of referred cases. An SGH official on condition of anonymity said, “The gynaecology departments of civic hospitals are referring a bulk of their patients to this hospital. Other public hospitals are also referring many cases to this hospital. We are forced to make floor beds or accommodate patients in other wards due to shortage of beds. Both surgery and gynaecology patients referred to this hospital can be easily managed by civic hospitals. All medico-legal patients are referred from PMC hospitals to SGH.”
{{/usCountry}}According to SGH officials, the gynaecology and surgery departments have a high number of referred cases. An SGH official on condition of anonymity said, “The gynaecology departments of civic hospitals are referring a bulk of their patients to this hospital. Other public hospitals are also referring many cases to this hospital. We are forced to make floor beds or accommodate patients in other wards due to shortage of beds. Both surgery and gynaecology patients referred to this hospital can be easily managed by civic hospitals. All medico-legal patients are referred from PMC hospitals to SGH.”
{{/usCountry}}According to officials, around 3,000 patients visit the outpatient department of SGH daily. On an average, more than 100 to 200 minor and major surgeries are performed at the hospital free-of-cost.
Dr Sanjeev Thakur, dean, SGH and BJ Medical College, said that more than 55% of the patients are referred by PMC hospitals. “We are supposed to handle serious and severe patients as a tertiary care hospital. But we are forced to provide primary, secondary and tertiary care to patients. Patients are even coming for fever, cold, and normal to C-section deliveries. The officials and the government should do something,” he said.
Dr Bhagwan Pawar, health officer, PMC, said that with the merger of 36 villages with the PMC, the demand for healthcare facilities has increased. “PMC has 35% posts vacant in the health department. We are focussing on filling up these posts and upgrading the facilities. We can conceive a policy to streamline the flow of patients from civic hospitals to tertiary care hospitals to prevent basic cases from being referred to other centres,” he said.