Delhi government hospitals to get 92 managers

The Delhi Cabinet approved the post of Hospital Managers in all state government hospitals on Wednesday for a period of one year on a contractual basis. The proposal for the creation of 92 posts has been approved by the Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

At present, there are 24 Delhi government hospitals (excluding Autonomous Institutions) providing secondary, tertiary and specialist health care ranging from preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative services including teaching, training and research facilities.

"These hospital managers will take off some burden from the medical superintendents who are already taking care of the administrative work. These managers will assist the patients as well as the other workers in solving their day-to-day issues," said a senior Delhi government official.

The hospitals have appreciated the move. "We have to sometimes give our work to the doctors apart from the clinical jobs they do. This is an excellent move by the government which will actually take off the stress from our head," said Dr Punita Mahajan, medical superintendent, Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital in Rohini.

The job of the managers has been divided into three categories-equipments/stores, facilities management and patient facilitation. "Presently the medical directors/ medical superintendents / doctors / nurses / paramedics / pharmacists are engaged for overall management of both these services," added the official.

According to the officials, involving doctors in administrative work not only leads to reduction in their clinical output, but also puts an additional load of hospital management on them.

"Since the need was felt for specialised manpower, a four member committee of very senior doctors was formed to study the issues and assess the specialised manpower requirement. The committee assessed the requirements and based on its recommendations, the Department of Health proposed to create 92 posts of Hospital Managers initially on contract basis," the official further added.

Multifarious services ranging from housekeeping, sanitation, kitchen services to specialised medical requirements and equipments handling etc., are required to be efficiently managed in hospitals.

In many states, governments of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have envisioned the requirement of professional manpower with managerial competence to work as Hospital Managers and have created these posts under the National Health Mission.

"These health facilities need to be run efficiently to cater to the clinical service delivery as well ancillary operations of hospital management for providing quality healthcare services to the citizens of Delhi," the official said.

24 GOVT HOSPITALS

• At present, there are 24 Delhi government hospitals (excluding Autonomous Institutions) providing secondary, tertiary and specialist health care ranging from preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative services including teaching, training and research facilities.