Hospitals still ill-equipped for crises

The Paris attacks are an uncomfortable reminder of the 60-hour siege of 26/11 that killed 166 people and injured more than 300 in Mumbai. However, the government is yet to learn a lesson from the crisis that prevailed in hospitals thereafter. As per data available with The Asian Age, both government and municipal hospitals in Mumbai are reeling under vacancies. Also, seven years down the line, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Act is yet to be implemented in Mumbai.

As per data gathered by Praja, a non-partisan organisation working for accountability and transparency in governance, this year, there have been 60 per cent and 33 per cent vacancies in medical and paramedical departments, respectively, in state government hospitals. During the same period, there have been 27 per cent and 33 per cent vacancies in medical and paramedical departments respectively in municipal hospitals. Compared to last year, there has been a steady rise in the gap of required staffers. “There have always been vacancies in state and municipal hospitals. All hospitals are reeling under a staff crunch. In such a situation, it would be tough to handle any medical emergency if there is another situation like 26/11,” said Milind Mhaske from Praja.
After 26/11, several initiatives were undertaken including launch of 937 emergency ambulances in the state and establishment of nodal officers in hospitals and separate hotlines for hospitals, but not much was done to provide adequate manpower to handle these emergency services.
Dr Satish Pawar, Director, Health Services, Directorate of Health, told The Asian Age that hospitals are self-sufficient in handling any medical crisis during any terrorist attack like 26/11. “If you see, most vacancies are in rural hospitals and not in urban hospitals. And such incidents happen normally in urban areas so hospitals housed there are adequate enough to provide immediate treatment,” said Dr Pawar.
“No patients have ever suffered due to shortage of staff in state hospitals. If required, within minutes, we transfer doctors from rural to urban hospitals to provide extra hands like we did in 26/11. At that time, most patients were admitted to GT and St George hospitals so we called doctors from rural areas who reached the hospitals in just 15 minutes,” he said.
General physician Dr Vivek Mehta said, “The first one hour or less is the most vital in any casualty or medical emergency during which, there is the highest likelihood that any delay in medical treatment would lead to death. Hence, any medical emergency service should be designed along this line. Shifting of doctors during medical emergencies may delay the golden hour of treatment.”
Dr Pawar, however, said that during the Roha train accident, nearly 15 doctors were transferred to the spot in just 15 minutes as the state hospital had only four doctors there. “It is impossible to keep hundreds of doctors in each hospital to tackle such incidents. Also, all the 108 vans have been made self-sufficient so that medical treatment can be carried out in the vehicles themselves without any delay,” he said.
The EMS Act has not been drafted in any other state except Gujarat.