CUTTACK: The SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) on Tuesday got a shot in the arm with the Orissa High Court issuing a stay on the termination of posts of senior hospital manager (SHM) and hospital manager (HM) by the NRHM.The vacation bench of Justices I Mohanty and BK Ray has directed that the abolition of the posts shall not be given effect until further orders. It has issued notices to the Additional Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry-cum-Mission Director of NRHM, the State Health Secretary and the State Mission Director of NRHM. The directions came in response to a petition filed by a member of the High Court-appointed Advocates’ Committee on Healthcare PR Das, challenging the termination notices issued to the officers holding the posts at the SCBMCH, citing abolition of the posts with effect from June 15.Das submitted that the administration of the premier hospital of the State would be seriously affected due to removal of the vital positions, ultimately throwing patient care services out of gear. Key management functions from implementation of various healthcare schemes of both the Centre and the State, extending benefits to the poor and BPL category patients, supervision of biomedical waste disposal, sanitation and outsourced activities as diet, security and laundry, etc., had been delegated to the officials.The SCBMCH, being the largest tertiary care hospital of the State, witnesses a huge inflow of patients everyday. It has an in patient strength of 1,600 and OP attendance of more than 1,500 a day. More than 80 per cent of the patients admitted to the hospital are from rural areas.With discontinuation of the posts the entire responsibility will fall on the superintendent, who cannot handle such huge burden on his own. The superintendent besides shouldering management also discharges clinical and academic duties, Das submitted.Das said he had taken up the matter with the national NRHM authorities who responded that these posts did not come under their purview. He had also written to the State Health Secretary seeking alternative measures as continuing with the vital posts from its own funds but there is no response yet.While the State Health Department could create a post of the Hospital Manager out of its own funds for the Dental College under SCBMCH, why can’t it go forward with the whole medical college and hospital? Das argued.
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