Kerala floods: More staff required for medical aid in Ernakulam

KOCHI: Shortage of

paramedical staff

is hampering the medical aid to the patients from flood hit areas in Ernakulam districts. Just 20 per cent of the paramedical staff are present at Ernakulam general hospital which coordinates medical aid in the district.

Besides offering services to the patients who have been shifted to other hospitals in the flood hit areas, doctors and staff at the general hospital will offer medical care to the patients at various relief camps. "The strength of paramedical staff in the hospital is around 20 per cent. Many of the staff members are forced to do the job for the past 24 or more hours on end. A sizable number of paramedical staff themselves are in the relief camps or remain stranded while another group is unbale to reach due to transportation issues," said Dr Syriac, resident medical officer (RMO), Ernakulam general hospital. “ Nurses and pharmacists are needed badly,” he said.

Officials with district medical office said that they have already procured adequate doctors for giving medical aid for patients at relief camps. "We have requested various organizations of nurses to provide nursing staff. We have contacted some of the private hospitals as well," an official with DMO said. "Those willing to serve can join us by simply walking down to the conference hall of Ernakulam general hospital," he said. On shortage of drugs in the camps operated from Ernakulam general hospital, he said that the issue has been addressed to some extent for the time being. "Some of the private hospitals in the area provided medicines to us," he said.

At the same time, Government Medical College has become a relief for patients shifted from other hospitals including private hospitals. "Around 180 patients reached from Paravur Taluk hospital while a few reached from Aster Medicity. Authorities of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences have asked us whether we may be able to accommodate 40 patients. We agreed to it," said Dr V K Sreekala, principal, Government Medical College, Ernakulam. "We have a bed strength of 500 and it is almost full now. We have three ICUS and we have arranged a temporary ICU at our burns unit," she said.

The medical college situated in a high latitude also houses a relief camps where 200 persons evacuated from different parts of Kochi and suburbs stay."We provide food for all the patients, those in the relief camp, bystanders, our staff and students. We procured rice and other items for this from Alappuzha on Friday," Sreekala said.