Odisha: Doctors, staff shortage plagues healthcare services at SCB Medical College

Cuttack: The healthcare services at Odisha's SCB Medical College and Hospital are severely affected due to the severe shortage of doctors and other paramedical staff. 

The reported shortage has come at a time when the infrastructural work at the institute is ongoing. The institute is reeling under the shortage of a number of faculty members and nurses. 

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Out of the sanctioned strength of 63 professors, the institute has 50 professors, with the remaining 13 lying vacant. Similarly, from the 106 sanctioned posts of associate professors, 35 are vacant and only 71 are filled. 

The 229 sanctioned posts of assistant professors in the institute have been filled by contractual employees or those who have been rehabilitated via transfer or deputation basis from periphery cadres. 

In the medicine department of the hospital, out of the total strength of eight associate professors, only one is currently working. The department has only seven senior resident doctors out of the sanctioned strength of 16. 

The hospital has a vacancy of nearly 400 nursing staff whose shortage is affecting indoor services. Out of the 1,281 sanctioned posts of nursing officials, around 314 posts are lying vacant, reports the New Indian Express. The 2086 bedded medical college and hospital is in need of around 4000 staff nurses. 

The institute is also in need of more than 1,300 attendants, and it currently has 800 attendants. SCB MCH administrative officer Abinash Rout said that the hospital officials have conveyed the situation regarding the vacant posts to the government.