Sir,
Refer news item ‘100 posts of docs vacant, patients suffer’ DE Sept 12. The shortage of doctors in peripheral hospitals is one of the causes of congestion in the twin premiere health institutes of the State GMC and SMHS.
As people do not find doctors on duty in these hospitals, they are left with no option than to shift their patients to the hospitals located in urban areas. With the result, these institutes get over crowded and patients do not get proper medicare which then leads to attendant-doctor brawls. There have been many instances where relatives of patients beat doctors for not attending patients properly. Though there may be cases where doctors would have been responsible for negligence, the reality is that doctors can not attend patients in large numbers. The doctors too experience fatigue and stress while treating their patients. The remedy of the problem lies in filling the vacant post in rural areas and creating necessary infrastructure in PHCs. The Government should wake up to this reality by making necessary arrangements.
Yours etc….
Somraj Sharma
Udhampur