Kerala will strengthen its public health system with a big plan of giving round the clock specialist care at district and general hospitals across the state. Health Minister K.
Muraleedharan has said the government will move ahead with the initiative and aims to implement it within six months.
The proposed system is also designed to offer specialist medical care beyond working hours rather than a medical college or private hospital and at night for the rest of the day to patients who are not in a hospital.
Health officials say this would improve the quality and continuity of treatment in public hospitals.
The plan will initially focus on 24-hour specialist services at least one hospital in every district and will be expanded in phases. Services will cover major departments including general medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics and gynaecology.
Special attention at night to specialist care and surgery could also help patients who require urgent medical attention outside normal hospital hours.
The core of the government’s plan is to build up the workforce. Muraleedharan said more doctors would be recruited to fill the vacancies and that the recruitment process had already begun.
Around 400 doctors from the Kerala Public Service Commission rank list had been called for advice memos, including 134 who appeared and received the memos, he said. Vacancies will be plugged gradually.
The government is also making hospitals prepared for the extra workload.
The government will assess existing infrastructure and decide the number of doctors, nurses and paramedics required. Staff will then be deployed according to the needs of individual hospitals.
Dr Shinu K S, additional director of the Health Department’s Administration and Training wing, has been appointed as the special officer for coordinating the programme.
The officer will monitor preparations, work closely with departments and institutions and provide progress reports on implementation.
The announcement comes amid ongoing staffing problems for the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) which says there are no specialist positions of medical staff.
The doctors’ organization also says it has to fill specialist positions and make appointments to ensure that the work is not too much on medical staff. The government and KGMOA eventually reached an agreement on the 24×7 specialist-care plan and staffing issues.
If implemented as planned, the initiative will improve access to specialist healthcare at Kerala government hospitals.
It would also relieve pressure on medical colleges by allowing district and general hospitals to handle more cases emergency and specialist procedures during night hours.
The best benefit for patients outside big cities would be access to specialist doctors without long distance travel.
The 6-month target now focuses on recruitment and infrastructure build-up and joint coordination across Kerala’s public healthcare system.
