The Hindu              19.12.2013

Private doctors to staff Corpn. clinics in evenings

Staff Reporter

Chennai Corporation is planning to use the services of private doctors to man its hospitals in the evening. This is part of an initiative to outsource medical services by the Corporation.  

According to the new proposal, private doctors in neighbourhoods will be permitted to use the hospital buildings of the Chennai Corporation to offer free medical services in such evening clinics. “Over 30 per cent of the doctors’ posts remain vacant. New doctors are reluctant to join Chennai Corporation hospitals. So we will outsource it to private agencies who will manage doctors at the clinics,” said the official.

Pharmacists and nurses at the hospitals will however be managed by the Chennai Corporation with medicines also being supplied free.   

“Most of those belonging to the working class are unable to visit Corporation hospitals during the day while Corporation doctors are at work only during the day. They cannot be persuaded to work in the evening.

So the plan to outsource such requirements to private agencies will improve the services.

The doctors will offer the same services but will not be employed with Chennai Corporation permanently,” said the official.

The success of the initiative will help tackle the problem of large number of vacancies of doctors’ posts in Corporation hospitals.  

The civic body has been trying to set up evening clinics to serve poor people but has not succeeded so far.

The evening clinics will benefit more than 18 lakh residents in 2,500 slums in the city. A number of poor residents are forced to spend thousands of rupees on primary healthcare in private hospitals.

The Chennai Corporation has identified gaps in the existing public healthcare system with a baseline survey pointing to issues such as inequitable spatial distribution of facilities with multiple service providers, unsuitable timings and overload on tertiary healthcare institutions.

The Hindu               18.12.2013

GH to seek civic body support for green toilets

Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital authorities will soon send a request to Chennai Corporation for green toilets on its premises.

Soon after the launch of Amma Canteen at the hospital, the toilets near it were shut down citing maintenance of hygiene.

On Tuesday, a number of outpatients and attendants of patients were inconvenienced as the only other set of functional public toilets on the campus was also closed. According to sanitary workers, there was no water to clean the men’s and women’s toilets near the south-western side of the campus.

A sanitary worker said, “People have defecated along the pathway inside the toilet and as water supply is erratic, we could not clean them.”

With people seen relieving themselves near dustbins, a strong stench pervaded the premises. A woman patient who had come from Kalpakkam for a review at the oncology department said, “I have been trying to locate a toilet on the campus but there are none. I cannot use the toilets in the ward either.”

The police attached to the hospital have complained to hospital authorities about the nuisance. “People defecate in the open, making it difficult for us to sit in our office,” said an inspector.

Daily, around 10,000 patients visit the hospital for outpatient services. They are accompanied by attendants.

“We may need 15 toilets each for men and women. We are sending a proposal to the Mayor and the Corporation commissioner,” dean V. Kanagasabai said. The hospital has also decided to install another borewell.