Mumbai: The issue of contractual workers at HBT Medical College and Dr. R. N. Cooper Municipal General Hospital, Juhu, Vile Parle, appears to have been resolved. Contractual staff will be given an extension in the interim, while a dedicated committee has been formed to monitor the hospital’s daily cleanliness drive, including the disposal of medical waste.
Committee Formed to Oversee Cleanliness and Waste Management
Dr. Neelam Andrade, Director of BMC Hospitals and Acting Dean of Cooper Hospital, confirmed that a committee has been formed to oversee cleanliness drives. “The contractual staff will be given an extension for the interim period,” she said.
Manpower Shortage Disrupted Patient Services
The problem came to light after the term of contractual workers lapsed on Monday, disrupting routine services—particularly patient registration at the out-patient department (OPD). With only two registration windows functional, long queues of patients were reported.
Doctors Highlight Urgent Need for Staff to Maintain Essential Services
Doctors at the hospital wrote to the Dean highlighting an acute manpower shortage that was hampering patient care and crowd management. In their letter, they warned that unless urgent measures were taken, essential medical services—including biomedical waste disposal—could face severe disruption.
“The shortage of staff has severely affected the hospital’s smooth functioning. Patient management is delayed, crowd control has become difficult, and the limited staff are overburdened. If not addressed urgently, this may lead to a breakdown of essential medical services,” the letter stated.
Hospital Administration Implements Measures to Reduce OPD Crowding
Following the concerns, a meeting was convened with the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Health), after which several measures were announced.
Meanwhile, the BMW (Biomedical Waste Management) agency has been engaged for daily debris clearance, and staff have been instructed to strictly segregate waste in colour-coded bags.
Also Watch:
Fresh Registration Guidelines to Facilitate Patient Flow
To ease crowding at OPDs, the administration also issued fresh guidelines. Registered patients are now being referred directly to OPDs without waiting for re-registration, which is being managed by nursing staff at the departments. For new patients, the registration process is being facilitated with the assistance of existing hospital staff.
