CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, Sept 15: The lack of nursing staff at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), the state-run super speciality hospital, has been a big issue for the last few months and the patients are the ones who are bearing the brunt.
In the most recent incident, the HOD of the cardiology department, Dr Vineet Mahajan, wrote a letter to the medical superintendent of RIMS complaining about the lack of nursing staff in the ICU where post-operative patients are kept.
In the letter, he mentioned that ‘there is no nursing staff in CTVS ICU and second-year GNM nursing students are posted in ICU for evening and night shifts. Currently, there are two patients on ventilator support and a total of four patients in immediate post-operative care.’
The medical superintendent of RIMS, Dr Hiren Birua, said that the lack of nursing staff is not just limited to the CTVS department but the entire hospital is suffering. He further said that the behaviour shown by the contractual nurses is entirely inhuman and the administration will be taking strict action against them.
He added that they are hopeful that Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) will declare the result in the coming week and they will get around 340-370 nurses to strengthen the team.
The lack of nursing staff has been an issue for RIMS for quite some time now. The president of RIMS Nurses Association, Rekha Rai, in an earlier interview with lagatar24.com, said that the nurse-patient ratio is very poor in the hospital where in the Neurosurgery ward, there are only four nurses to take care of the 150 patients.
In May 2022, out of the total sanctioned post of 2,200, only 450 nurses (regular and contractual) were working in the hospital. However, the number has again gone down as dozens of nurses left their jobs a few weeks back without informing the concerned authorities.
Notably, the Indian Nursing Council (INC), the apex body for nurses, has recommended that there should be at least one nurse for eight patients in the ward, one for three in post-operative units and recovery rooms and one for every patient in critical and intensive care units. However, the scenario at RIMS is nowhere close to this.
