Fresh KGMU appointments enable restarting of renal transplant unit

LUCKNOW: The King George’s Medical University has completed a host of recruitments that were stalled for two years, making appointments across 30 different departments. According to hospital authorities, this will jack up the daily number of surgeries in the hospital by almost 60% and give a new beginning to the renal transplant unit.

After a two-year pause on new appointments of professors and doctors at KGMU, the National Medical Commission gave the go-ahead for new recruitments at the teaching hospital. On this new development, 77 appointment letters were sent out, of which around 45-50 have already joined and commenced work. As for the others, “those working in government medical establishments need to complete their resignation process, after which they will be joining the hospital as well,” said faculty head of the KGMU Media Cell, Dr. K.K. Singh of the general surgery department.

Dr. Singh shared that the second advertisement for new recruits would be released the instant all appointees from the first phase joined – “This will bring 60-70 more professors and doctors to our hospital. We have estimated that our daily number of surgeries will rise significantly on account of these appointments, going from 250 a day to 350-400 a day,” he said.

The new recruitments have also enabled the hospital to open up its renal transplant unit again, which had been dysfunctional for nearly 1.5 years. A nephrologist or kidney doctor was missing, thereby crippling the unit as one is a must for kidney transplants. Now, after a long gap, this unit is equipped to run once again.

Expounding on the situation the past two years he said, “While teachers were retiring every year, we were not able to make appointments to replace them. Now the pressure on the existing faculty will be significantly reduced.” Taking the example of the anaesthesiology department, he said that the department strength had increased by 40%, i.e., 12 new joinees. “That alone will make a huge difference, as anaesthesiologists are required in every surgery.”

While the appointment letters were sent out earlier this week, doctors are still in the process of putting down their papers elsewhere and beginning their tenure at KGMU, which ought to be completed by the end of the month, as per authorities.