Super-speciality doctors' shortage hits patient care at Sassoon Hospital
Super-Speciality Doctors
Pune: The ongoing shortage of super-speciality doctors at Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) has left hundreds of patients travelling long distances for advanced medical care, only to be turned away due to the unavailability of specialists. Many are left with no choice but to seek costly private treatment or delay essential care.
SGH, one of Maharashtra’s busiest government-run tertiary care centres, sees around 2,500 to 3,000 outpatient department (OPD) patients daily and performs nearly 500 major and minor procedures. It serves as a referral centre for Pune, Solapur, Satara and other districts. Despite its pivotal role, the hospital currently struggles to provide advanced care due to a lack of specialist doctors.
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The shortage of specialists has also hampered administrative responsibilities. Last month, SGH declined to investigate a case of suspected medical negligence involving a fatal liver transplant, citing the absence of a gastroenterologist and liver transplant surgeon — both crucial for evaluating the case. The probe could not proceed, raising concerns about the hospital’s capacity to handle high-level medical negligence cases.
Medical Dialogues had previously reported that the investigation into the liver transplant deaths at Sahyadri Hospital, Pune, where both the donor and the recipient passed away due to alleged post-transplant complications, remains uncertain after Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), which was assigned to probe the matter, refused to move forward with the investigation, citing a shortage of specialist doctors.
