Cardiology dept. in Kozhikode MCH in need of critical care

The Department of Cardiology at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kozhikode, which is visited by hundreds of patients from across north Keralam every day, is facing a serious shortage of doctors.

Though the sanctioned permanent staff strength is 14, only eight are on the rolls, and one of the doctors has been sent on a working arrangement basis to the Government Medical College Hospital, Wayanad, too.

According to sources, instead of filling up the posts of Assistant Professors, the authorities have been deploying Doctorate of Medicine (DM) trainees, who work at the hospital to complete their one-year bond period and then leave the job.

Senior doctors say that this stop-gap arrangement does not have any practical use. They claim that at least 10 years of continuous experience in the echocardiogram test room is required for a doctor to deliver an expert opinion. “The DM trainees can be deployed for outpatient department duty, primary angioplasty surgeries for heart attack, and basic echocardiogram procedures, that’s fine. But, if someone gets a doubt in a complex case in the echocardiogram test room, the senior doctors even on operation theatre duty may have to be called in to clear it. There are three such echo rooms here where tests are done simultaneously,” says a doctor.

The department has the posts of one Professor, three Associate Professors, and 10 Assistant Professors. The doctors say that even this staff pattern was set long ago and the number of patients has seen a drastic rise in recent years. Though there were two more posts of Professors earlier, they were reportedly shifted to other medical college hospitals. The present crisis is set to aggravate in the next three to four years when some of the senior doctors will retire from service, they point out.

For the record, around 600 patients seek treatment every day at the cardiology OP section. Over 5,500 procedures, including 980 primary angioplasty surgeries, were performed last year. The patients admitted with heart attack are directly shifted from the casualty to the cardiology intensive care unit (ICU). Up to 10 patients are reportedly shifted to the ICU every day and the primary angioplasty surgeries are done round the clock. There are two cath labs here.

Though the authorities have repeatedly intimated the government about the situation and applications were invited for the posts of Assistant Professors, many junior doctors are not keen on joining duty reportedly because of the unattractive entry-level pay.