Pune Hospitals Step Recruitment Drives for Healthcare Personnel
Hospitals in Pune are facing a shortage of doctors, nurses and ward attendants. The state government-run Sassoon General Hospital has now published an advertisement for the recruitment of 720 health workers. In the cantonments and rural areas of Pune, officials said they are trying to fill 407 vacant posts and recruit an additional 1,000 health workers.
In Pune Municipal Corporation, officials are running to complete a walk-in-interview for the recruitment of 665 health care workers, while in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, health officials have asked for trained ICU nurses.
With 32,000 Covid-19 cases and over 900 deaths in Pune, the epidemic has given rise to increasing demand for health workers in both government and private hospitals. Lack of manpower is even more necessary as health workers have to follow the mandatory quarantine period after coming in contact with Covid-19 patients. Even the centre has revised the 14-day quarantine period for doctors, nurses and health workers who are at high risk in Covid-19 cases, for a week, with the rising of viruses affecting health workers.
At Sassoon General Hospital, the state’s largest government hospital, officials are planning to add another 60 ICU beds to the existing 40 by the end of the month. The 150-bed critical care ward is being upgraded and the demand for healthcare staff has increased. During the first months of the epidemic, in April and May, at least 95 private-sector doctors were recruited to manage critical care patients at Sassoon General Hospital. But, with private hospitals accepting their fair share of Covid-19 patients, flow from the region has been reduced.
According to the advertisement, Sassoon General Hospital will require at least 48 physicians, 38 intensive physicians, 15 paediatricians and 89 resident chest physicians / anaesthetists. This is in addition to other health workers, ward attendants and more than 200 nurses to be recruited. The recruits will be made initially on a six-month contract basis. A monthly salary packet of Rs 2.25 lakh is being offered for physicians and intensive practitioners.
Land Settlement Commissioner S. Chokalingam, who has been given administrative charge to deal with the Covid-19 situation at Sassoon General Hospital, told that the hospital authorities did not face problems in filling Class III and Class IV posts. Had to do, and there was enough manpower to provide patient care in wards. Chokalingam said, but only 50 per cent of the posts of experts have been filled and the second round of advertisements will be released.
PMC Chief Medical Officer, Ramchandra Hanakare said that interviews have been going on for the last two days and the civic body was in the process of recruiting health workers on contract basis. In the civic body, physicians, paediatricians and intensive physicians will be offered Rs 2.25 lakh monthly on contract basis. Hanakare said that the PMC needed a total of 50 physicians, intensive physicians and paediatricians, among other health workers.
