‘Huge vacancies plague state-run hospitals in city’

The maximum shortage is observed in the medical staff posts,which has a substantial 46 per cent vacancy,followed by lecturer posts in medical colleges,having 38 per cent vacant seats. The nursing staff,para-medical staff and administrative staff have 33 per cent,29 per cent and 29 per cent vacancies,respectively.

Milind Mhaske,project director in Praja,said,“Even we were shocked to see so many seats going vacant. The figures here are quite huge. However,we have not questioned the authorities yet.”

When contacted,Dr DR Kulkarni,medical superintendent of GT hospital,disputed the figures. As per the information,in GT hospital alone,195 out of the 554 nursing staff posts and 114 out of 401 labour posts are vacant.

“I joined as medical superintendent from June 17. And there has been a regular recruitment process since then. We might have a few vacancies,but the figures in the Praja report are incorrect to my knowledge,” Kulkarni said,adding that almost all posts in the hospital were occupied.

However,RTI data indicated that GT hospital was only second in terms of percentage of vacancies,having 34 per cent of the total posts in the hospital vacant.

In percentage terms,maximum vacancies (36 per cent) were in Cama hospital. St George had 29 per cent vacancies and JJ hospital had 27 per cent.

Dr JB Bhavani,medical superintendent of St George’s hospital,said,“In July,the government of Maharashtra has filled all the vacant seats. For now,our staff is full.”

Till June,the hospital had as many as 46 out of 72 medical staff posts and 220 out of 564 nursing staff posts vacant.

Directorate Health Services (DHS) director could not be reached for comment.