MP govt to hire super specialists doctors for Bhopal gas victims

To strengthen ailing medical facilities for Bhopal gas victims, Madhya Pradesh government has decided to hire locally available super specialists on fixed honorarium. The town though has a dedicated hospital for Bhopal gas victims, but it is dogged by controversies and lacks super specialty facility.

"Bhopal gas rehabilitation and resettlement department has cleared a proposal to hire super specialists against a fixed daily honorarium. The town has nearly 45-50 super specialists who visit various government and private hospitals. They will be hired for outdoor patient departments of government run hospitals and also to perform surgeries. Now, the department of finance has to clear the proposal," a well-placed source in the government said.

According to the department data, there is only one super specialty hospital for Bhopal gas victims, two specialty hospitals, three each general hospitals, ayurvedic dispensaries, homeopathic dispensaries and unani dispensaries and nine day care units. The average daily attendance in OPDs is 3,583 patients per day. "The super specialty facility will be available at Kamala Nehru Hospital and Pulmonary Medicine Center," the source said.

A qualified super-specialist with 10 years of experience, according to the proposal, will be paid Rs 6,600 per day, while an associate professor rank super specialist with five years of experience will be paid Rs 6,200 per day and an associate professor rank doctor will be paid Rs 4,800 per day. The survivours of the tragedy need super specialty facilities in nephrology, cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, urology, radio-imaging, ophthalmology and pulmonary diseases.

Since 1985 till day each year approximately one million patients attended all hospitals at a daily average of 2,584 to 4,500 patients.

The Kamala Nehru Hospital has 219 beds capacity where daily out patient department (OPD) rate has 125 patients but the pulmonary care center has 289 patients per day. The super-specialists however will not be paid additionally for any surgery they perform at any of the two hospitals.

The state budget on medical facilities for gas victims has reached Rs 45 crore of which approximately Rs 10 crore goes to medicines and payments against doctors.