Staff shortage an issue: Posts for 7 nurses, five SNCU doctors vacant

The lack of adequate medical staff has been a chronic problem in the state’s public health system. Maharashtra has been struggling to fill posts of doctors and health workers.

“The issue of lack of doctors and staff nurses has been a problem. It became more acute after the Covid-19 pandemic began. We added 300 isolation beds to the hospital but could not appoint enough staff,” said a senior district-level official.

On November 5, 2020, Maharashtra had informed the Bombay High Court that of the total 1,512 permanent sanctioned posts for class I medical officers, only 507 were filled as of November.

State officials said that all aspects, including lack of staff, would be evaluated to find out the reasons for the mishap.

IAS officer N Ramaswamy, director of the National Health Mission, Maharashtra, said, “I have directed state officials to submit a report on this incident. I can’t comment on whether there was shortage of nurses or lack of equipment maintenance. Once the report is submitted, we will take further action.”

The six-member committee, headed by Dr Sadhana Tayade, director of Directorate of Health Services, is slated to submit a report in three days.

“The committee will look into every aspect of the incident, how the fire occurred and who were negligent. The committee will also inspect all equipment and electrical systems. We will take strict action against those responsible,” said state Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

The two nurses who were on duty reported to higher officials that they saw smoke and there was a subsequent “explosion” in the ward, forcing them to rush out. Along with two nurses, a helper and a medical officer were on duty in the SNCU at the time of the incident, show hospital records.

But none were able to immediately rescue any of the new borns in the in-born section, a section where critically-ill babies delivered in the hospital are kept. Help could reach only after the Fire Brigade broke glass windows from the outside of the first floor unit, and security guards and ambulance drivers rushed into the SNCU about half-an-hour after the fire started.

“Our hospital staffers also suffered inhalation injury and chest discomfort. The entire ward was engulfed in black smoke and they said they could not see anything,” said a doctor from the civil surgeon’s office.

The state government has formed a team of health officials, district officials and the officials from the electrical engineering department to probe the incident. A member of the committee said CCTV footage will be checked to confirm how many hospital staffers were on duty at the time of the fire.

A preliminary inquiry has pointed to a short circuit as the probable cause of the fire Information obtained from the district Health department by The Indian Express shows the last maintenance audit of SNCU was conducted on September 2, 2020, by a private company called Faber Sindoori Management Services. This audit does not cover fire safety. On September 16, 2020, district authorities carried out an inspection to check the calibration and maintenance of equipment in the entire hospital. The next audit for both is scheduled in September this year.

The Chennai-headquartered Faber Sindoori provides clinical waste management, biomedical engineering, cleaning services, equipment maintenance, and laundry and cleaning services in hospitals and airports. They have contracts with Apollo Hospital, National Health mission in both Puducherry and Maharashtra, Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited (Delhi), and Sankara Nethralaya Hospital (Chennai), as well as with Chennai airport, Hyderabad airport, and Bangalore airport.

Dr Archana Patil, director of Family Welfare in the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), said, “We have asked for an audit report to assess if there were any problems in the equipment. Faber Sindoori manages maintenance of SNCUs of all government hospitals in the state.”

The fire broke out in the front room designated as the ‘out-born’ section- which admits babies delivered in other hospitals that are transferred here for treatment of birth-related issues. It is separated from the inborn section of SNCU by a partition.

Ten babies were admitted in the ‘out-born’ section, and seven in in-born. A senior doctor from the hospital said while two nurses, a medical officer and a helper were in the same ward, they did not notice the fire because “they were in the nursing station and their view may have been blocked by glass partitions”.