Minister of State for Medical Education Madhuri Misal took to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday and said that the recruitment for vacant posts at Pune's Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) will start within the next eight days. The staff crunch at the government-run hospital has been a long-standing issue.
The Parvati MLA wrote, "2,350 posts have been approved for SGH. However, 769 of them are vacant. Also, 156 nursing posts are vacant. In all, 50 per cent of the Class IV posts are vacant. The recruitment is done by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with the permission of the District Collector. In the next eight days, the recruitment process will be resumed, and 44 vacant posts of Class I and 110 vacant posts of Class II will also be filled immediately."
"SGH is the only hospital in western Maharashtra where patients come from all over the state, including Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. 5.5 lakh outpatients come here every year. Additionally, about 60,000 patients from Pune city are admitted here annually. It has a 155-bed ICU. However, the hospital is being burdened with more patients coming here than its capacity," Misal added.
She further said that an inquiry into the hospital’s cleanliness and sanitation standards will be conducted.
Misal’s response came after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from the Pune Cantonment Assembly constituency, Sunil Kamble, raised concerns about several issues at the SGH in the state legislative session on Thursday. He noted that the hospital has been grappling with issues related to healthcare services, infrastructure and administration. He added that SGH frequently faces a shortage of medical equipment, surgical instruments and essential medicines, impacting patient care. Kamble further alleged that departments such as emergency and surgery are not functioning efficiently. This is forcing patients to seek treatment at private hospitals, putting a heavy burden on economically weaker patients, he said.
