Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre to shut down two departments amid doctor crunch

Bhopal: The Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC) would be closing down two of its important departments, the cardiothoracic & vascular surgery (CTVS) and cardiology departments this month, while the shortage of doctors in the hospitals continues to increase.

A number of doctors leave the institution due to the poor government management and poor pay offered. Dr Sanjeev Gupta from the CTVS department has already left, due to which the department is almost in a closed state. Whereas, two doctors from the cardiology department, Dr Ayush Jain and Dr Asish Shankhadhar have already given their resignation papers and are currently serving a notice period. 

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The Madhya Pradesh High court had last year directed the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to fill the vacant posts of doctors and paramedical staff at BMHRC. This was in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition regarding medical care of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, clubbed with a contempt application on the lack of recruitments at the hospital. 

The ICMR had submitted a list of ten doctors before the MP High court who would be joining the institute, but only three of them have joined the hospital so far, reports the TOI. 

Criticizing the closures of these departments, Purnendu Shukla, a member of the Supreme Courts Monitoring Committee for Gas Victims said, "It's the third round of exodus of doctors from BMHRC. As soon as any big hospital comes up in the city, the exodus of staff from BMHRC begins because of the adhocism of the ICMR in running the hospital." 

Even though the HC has issued a number of warnings, ICMR continues to recruit contractual doctors with Rs 1 lakh as remuneration. The service conditions of the doctor continue to remain unclear, and Shukla added that ICMR keeps misleading the court on this issue. 

He added, "After Dr Sanjeev Gupta's resignation, who was a senior doctor of the hospital working there since 2009, I talked to the director of the hospital Dr Prabha Desikan and she said that arrangements are being made to find replacement for Dr Gupta and she sent me an advertisement published in a local newspaper seeking services of a cardiac surgeon offering remuneration of Rs 1 lakh and an accommodation on the hospital campus. Do you get an expert doctor with a degree of DM like this? You will have to give them incentives, decide service conditions which not only attract doctors but retain them too at the hospital." 

The number of closed departments would now amount to six amidst reports that a number of other departments are being run with an acute shortage of doctors as well. The other departments which are already closed include nephrology, oncology, neuro medicine and gastro medicine. These were closed down because of the government's failure in recruiting the needed number of professors, associate professors and assistant professors with proper remuneration and facilities. 

As per a previously reported story in the Hindu, this issue of doctors leaving the hospital, including those who are responsible in providing quality treatment to the victims of the tragedy is a decade-long issue, which is caused by a "serious lack of parity vis-à-vis remunerations offered by the BMRCH compared to other institutions, government or private."

Purnendu Shukla, a member of the Supreme Courts Monitoring Committee for Gas Victims had observed, "Until a decade ago, the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre was recognised as a national-level super specialty hospital. Today, it is a perfect example of the lack of vision. Due to the neglectful attitude of the Central government, the exodus of 10 prominent doctors and many other staff members from the hospital for the last seven-eight years has further deepened the crisis." 

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