6 Medical Officers issued show cause notice, Taluk Hospital Superintendent transferred for alleged lapses in hospital administration

Thiruvalla: A day after Health Minister Veena George conducted a surprise inspection at the Thiruvalla taluk hospital and reported serious lapses in the hospital management, the hospital superintendent has now issued show-cause notices to nearly six medical officers demanding an explanation over their absence from the Out Patient (OP) wing of the hospital when the inspection took place.  

After publicly admonishing the superintendent Ajaya Mohan, the minister issued a transfer order to Mohan to Chengannur over the management shortcomings. The doctor's association, however, has expressed their protest against the health minister for insulting the Thiruvalla hospital superintendent publicly.

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Following her surprise inspection, the minister issued an emergency order of transfer after receiving complaints from the patients about the absence of doctors and the shortage of medicines in the hospital pharmacy. The minister saw that patients were waiting in the queue and only 2 OPs were functioning, with around 17 doctors failing to be present despite marking attendance in the duty chart. The minister alleged that the blood banks were not functioning properly as well. The superintendent failed to provide a proper explanation of the situation. 

Further, the minister demanded an explanation on why the patients arriving at night were denied treatment and were referred to other hospitals. And she also questioned why temporary employees were not employed if there were fewer staff. The minister took photographs of the medicines prescribed by the doctors and instructed the officials to inquire about the availability of medicines in the pharmacy section and take necessary action, reports the Mathrubhumi. 

The superintendent in the show-cause notice stated that when the Health Minister visited the hospital at 10.30 a.m. on August 6, only three doctors were present at the OP wing. Out of the remaining six, four had marked their attendance but remained absent from the OP and the other two failed to sign in. The notice also demanded the doctor responsible for marking attendance to give an explanation for her failure to mark attendances on the previous couple of days, reports the Hindu. 

Meanwhile, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) which is a union of government doctors and the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) protested against this move by the minister. The KGMOA officials said that doctors should not be blamed for the shortage of medicines in hospitals. The doctors observed a black day on Monday as a symbol of protest against the reported public shaming of the doctors by the Health Minister. 

The organizations blamed the state government for its inability to address the shortage of medicines and accused Ms George of trying to deviate the public anger toward the doctors. The KGMOA officials said that the "public trial" by the health minister before the media and politicians against the hospital superintendent could not be justified. They had also written to the state government and the health minister about the shortage of medicines in the hospital. 

The KGMOA state general secretary Dr T N Suresh said that the association protests against the health minister's behaviour and that the government is trying to run away from its responsibilities to ensure all facilities in hospitals. Thus without taking up these responsibilities, the doctors are being blamed even for the shortage of medicines, reports the Times of India. 

According to IMA, the health minister was trying to get political mileage by creating such a scene before the media, noting that around 10 doctors were on their duty at that time hospital. The IMA said that six doctors were on OP duty, one was attending the medical board meeting, two were on court duty and another doctor was on rounds. Calling the minister's act condemnable, the IMA state president Dr Samuel Koshy said that the minister tried to garner political mileage before the politicians and media by insulting a doctor, which is highly condemnable. 

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