Pune: It's among the largest govt hospitals in Pune region and now, Sassoon General Hospital ( SGH ) is feeling the pressure. In a single week, SGH's doctors issue about 180 disability certificates. And once every seven days, they process at least 50 age-determination certificates.
This certification work is besides the 30-odd postmortems performed at SGH every day. Now, other govt hospitals in the city — all authorised to carry out similar work — can share the burden , but deficiencies in infrastructure and bureaucratic reluctance have largely kept them from taking up these jobs, leaving SGH's doctors with barely enough time to treat patients or do medical research. In an attempt to fix this, SGH authorities have now written to the police and the other govt hospitals to ensure there is fair distribution of work among govt units.
Dr Yallapa Jadhav, SGH's medical superintendent, said discussions have already been held with Pune police about "decentralising" medico-legal cases, in which a doctor may feel the police need to intervene. Examples include fatal accidents, suspected cases of sexual assault, unexplained poisonings, attempted suicides etc. "We recently told Pune commissioner that police stations should take such work to govt hospitals closest to them, instead of only to Sassoon.
Oftentimes, it's a lack of awareness and Sassoon hospital's ability to operate 24x7 that is stopping cops from approaching these hospitals," Dr Jadhav said. The other hospitals in Pune that.