The Southern Railway has asked the Divisional Railway Hospital at Tiruchi to recruit doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab assistants, radiographers, hospital attendants and housekeeping assistants on contract basis for a period of three months in view of COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on a communication from the Principal Chief Medical Director, Southern Railway, the Tiruchi divisional railway authorities have issued a notification for the recruitment of doctors and para-medical staff at the divisional railway hospital here. The interview for these posts would be held online on different dates this month with monthly remuneration fixed for each category.
Senior railway officials told The Hindu on Friday that the plan was to recruit 36 doctors of which 27 would be general duty medical officers; three anaesthetists; three general medicine and three chest physicians. Thirty-six nurses and and an equal number of hospital attendants are proposed to be recruited. A total number of 72 housekeeping assistant would be recruited and 12 each for the posts of pharmacist, lab assistant and radiographer.
As per the notification, the online interview for the contract medical practitioners (doctors) was scheduled on April 16, while it was April 17 for the posts of nurses and pharmacist. The online interview for lab assistant, radiographer, hospital attendant and housekeeping assistant was slated on April 18. The doctors and para-medical staff were expected to be recruited before this month-end and posted in shifts, a senior official attached to the Medical Department said.
The recruitment would be done in consultation with the Divisional Railway Manager in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure on medical matters. The existing strength of doctors at the divisional railway hospital at Tiruchi was 19. They belonged to different specialities such as Ortho, Opthalmology, Gynaecology, Anaesthesia, General Surgery, General Medicine and Paediatrics.
In the wake of the spread of COVID-19, the railway hospital here has been designated as hospital for COVID-19. An isolation ward was created at the hospital early last month. The Southern Railway administration has also stated that 110 out of the 197 beds at the divisional railway hospital here could be spared for the State government for COVID-19.
The railway administration has also made it clear that accommodation and food for the contract medical practitioners and contract paramedical staff should be taken care as they would not be permitted to go to their homes during the duty period in view of the high infectivity of COVID-19. Food could be arranged through the IRCTC or through the Commercial Department, the administration further said.
