SOUTH
Currently, 42 doctors are managing 30 maternity homes. The doctors working on contract serve only till evening. After 4 pm the hospital has only senior nurses, who avoid admitting pregnant ladies with critical cases as there are no doctors to attend to them.
"We can only admit the patient if they come before 4 pm. Then we will have to wait for the doctors as they would be working at BBMP's referral hospital and come here only if there is any emergency. In case the patient needs a surgery and comes to the hospital after 4 pm, the doctors refer them to better-equipped hospitals," said a senior nurse.
A nurse on the condition of anonymity said, “We have requested the senior officers in the BBMP for appointment of extra nurses and duty doctors round the clock. But our request has fallen on deaf ears.”
“The BBMP has 15 gynaecologists and has outsourced 27 more. It badly requires another 22 doctors as most doctors are busy in the two referral hospitals situated at JC Road and Hosahalli,” she said.
"The patients who get admitted to these hospitals mainly come from slum areas. Many of them are anaemic. In the case of C-section delivery, they need specialists, and these specialists are available only at the referral hospitals. BBMP will appoint more specialists at the four BBMP referral hospitals to support these 30 maternity homes," said Dr Nirmala B, Chief Health Officer, BBMP.
According to Mayor Padmavathi, these BBMP hospitals need at least 30 more doctors.
"The women who come to corporation hospitals are poor, and they need better care. If doctors are not available, then it is a shame," said Mayor Padmavathi.
The Chief Health Officer has informed me that once an additional number of doctors join the duty, based on the requirement and demand duty doctors will be appointed in the maternity hospitals facing a severe shortage of the staff. These doctors will be available even during late evening hours said the mayor.
Lakshmi, a resident of Bharathi Nagar, said, “I was lucky to have come at 3:30 pm last week at Thimmaiyya Road maternity hospital as the doctors were available. Else I would have been asked to go to the BBMP's referral hospital at JC Road or Ulsoor. By the time I would reach, my water would have broken," she said.
Besides the shortage of doctors, many BBMP hospitals face the difficulty in maintaining the hospital. The BBMP’s Maternity Hospital at Thimmaiya Road has a leaky roof, and as a result, one of the operation theatres is closed.
"The hospitals functioning under BBMP, also need better security as people under the influence of alcohol barge inside the hospital despite the fact that these hospitals are only for the women. They pick up a fight with nurses and argue saying that they need to be with their wife and the newborn baby," said another nurse from Wilson Garden Maternity Home.