MARD president to tackle suspension of resident doctors in Mumbai's St George's Hospital

St George’s Hospital is part of the Sir JJ Group of Hospitals. File pic

The newly elected president of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) will hold discussions with authorities on the recent suspension of resident doctors at St George's Hospital during his first visit to the city this week.

Dr Pratik Debaje, a resident doctor at GMC Nagpur who was declared the new MARD president on Saturday, said, "We do not have a proper workforce. In this case, the hospital administration and the higher authorities should have taken responsibility for addressing the issue of manpower instead of unfairly treating resident doctors under pressure."

He added that MARD will meet with the administration of St George's Hospital and DMER authorities, requesting them to revoke the suspension of the resident doctors. Two senior resident doctors and a chief medical officer at St George's Hospital were put on compulsory leave after a hospital's Class IV employee died while under treatment. The family of the deceased alleged negligence on the hospital's part, claiming that the employee was left unattended for hours.

"Resident doctors are already overburdened frontline workers. These issues will continue to arise in government hospitals unless the problem of vacancies is addressed," said Dr Debaje. In earlier reports, mid-day highlighted how the hospital halts emergency medical procedures after 4 pm due to a lack of staff and technicians in the radiology department. Moreover, several resident doctors have raised concerns about a shortage of Class IV employees, which forces them to take on additional non-clinical tasks, reducing the time available to address patients' needs.

MARD will also be requesting tightened security for doctors in the aftermath of the incident in Kolkata, where a second-year doctor was found murdered within the hospital premises. "The MSF guards are not yet posted in government colleges across the state. We will bring this up in the upcoming meeting," said Dr Debaje.