‘Contractual hiring not the answer’: High Court flags staff crunch at Delhi government hospitals

In 2017, the HC had taken suo motu cognisance of facilities lacking at hospitals, including ventilators, and had instituted the PIL.

The court has periodically kept a close eye on Delhi government’s health facilities through the PIL, issuing directions from time to time, including implementing a system of publicly sharing in real-time bed availability across its hospitals.

The bench has now called for all medical superintendents/medical directors/directors of the 38 government hospitals in Delhi, as well as the secretary of the health department to join the proceedings either virtually or physically on the next date of hearing on October 10.

Lack of manpower

Taking up the issue of lack of manpower, cited as a reason by several hospitals on why several high-end medical equipment remain unused, the court observed that “contractual employment cannot be the answer to all problems”.

It also recorded that doctors from the Delhi Cancer Institute claimed the institute has not had a full-time medical superintendent since 2019.

Noting that the Delhi government “would have to deal with the issue of recruitment in a centralised manner, rather than allowing recruitment at the local level on a contractual basis,” it said: “… the filling up of vacancies from the top till the bottom of the pyramid has to be done in a manner so as to bring some consistency, clarity and permanency. Contractual employment cannot be the answer to all problems.”

“Unless the staff crunch issue is addressed in a methodical manner, hospitals will continue to suffer from lack of proper administration and there is a likelihood of high level of attrition with contractual staff. This Court is also conscious of the fact that contractual employment also blocks promotion avenues and results in frustration amongst employees,” the bench recorded.

The court has directed the secretaries of the health and services departments to hold a fresh meeting with the MS/MD of each of the 38 hospitals in Delhi to address the recruitment issue, starting with recruiting a regular full-time MS or MD in hospitals without one.

Unused equipment

The court has also sought a revised status report on equipment lying unused across the 38 government hospitals, “especially, MRI, CT Scan, PET Scan, USG machine”, and provide details as to in which hospitals these facilities are available and where there is adequate regular or contractual manpower to run these equipment or not.”

“While giving these details, use by consultants on a random basis shall not be constituted as use of equipment. Any equipment which is not available for use of patients on a daily basis with proper manpower shall be treated to be unused equipment,” the court outlined.

Nearly a fifth of the toll-free calls made for ambulance, dropped

Last week, the bench was told that nearly 18% of medical emergency calls made to the state’s toll-free number do not go through.

The toll-free number 102 — used for calling ambulance services — has 30 operators across 30 lines, fielding over 2,000 calls a day at present.

“The total number of calls received on this dedicated number are stated to be around 2,200 calls per day and there are at least 500 call drops everyday as per Mr [Alok Kumar] Divedi, HOO [head of operations] (CATS) [Centralised Accident and Trauma Service],” which runs the toll-free, the court recorded.

Now, they will not only field calls for ambulances, but will also respond to calls inquiring about the availability of ICU beds at government hospitals.

With the increased workload for the operators, the HC directed the CATS’ head to observe the data for a month on calls received and dropped each day, and assess if the number of lines and operators are required to be increased to make the service more efficient.