As nurses play a crucial role in patient recovery and post-surgical procedures, the health care system across the country is affected by the severe shortage of nurses.
Though the Medical Council of India recommends a nurse-patient ratio of 1:3, the reality is far different. According to T Dileep Kumar, President of Indian Nursing Council, said that across the country, the ratio is anywhere between 1:20 and 1:50. “In most district hospitals, it is between 1:20 and 1:30,” he added.
According to Kumar, in a few places, 25-30 per cent of nurses go on leave. “The usual excuse given is maternity and sickness, and this makes the situation worse,” he said.
There are other reasons for shortage of nurses as well. While vacant posts have not been filled at some places, the number of posts sanctioned is far too less compared with the requirement at some other locations.
If truth be told, there is shortage of qualified nurses. And the mind-numbing process of recruitment only adds to the problem.
Dr C Manjunath, director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, claimed that the institute had 1:1 nurse-patient ratio in surgical recoveries, said that streamlining the recruitment procedure was important.
“The problem also lies with the recruitment procedure. It would be ideal if the government could ease this process and expedite the same… While doctors perform surgeries, post-operative care, to a great extent is taken care of by the nurses. Infection rate can be controlled to a great extent and also, good nursing care will ensure a speedy recovery,” he added.
Dr Manjunath while pointing to overworking explained that nurses might, in such cases, be prone to fatigue syndrome.
Nurses and health workers working under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) claim they work over time and are not paid on a par with the others on duty.
“While other nurses get paid around Rs 25,000, we get just Rs 8,000. Also, even as our ideal work timing is eight hours, we end up working for 24 hours as there is shortage,” said one of the nurses under the NRHM.
According to Sharanprakash Patil, Minister of Medical Education, said the department will fill in the vacancies in hospitals on a priority basis. “We had called for 600 posts recently. Of them, 200 posts have been approved by the finance department. We have moved papers seeking more posts,” he said, adding the same would be addressed once the clearance is given.