Subject to recruitment of staff and municipal approvals, Surat’s Seth Rustamji Dhanjibhai Tarachand Parsi General Hospital is "ready with 12 beds equipped with oxygen lines” to take in community members suffering from the coronavirus and who need isolation, Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) chairman Jamshed Dotivala told Parsiana on May 3, 2021. SPP chief executive officer Rohinton Mehta added that they had intended to set aside 15 beds but have been unable to recruit the required staff of doctors and nurses. This "in spite of offering good salaries up to Rs 70,000 per month,” stated Dotivala. An advertisement in Sandesh of April 13 for staffing the proposed ward drew a "very poor response,” rued Mehta.
Seth Rustamji Dhanjibhai Tarachand Parsi General Hospital
On April 14, Dotivala had, in a message to the community stated that this ward is specifically for providing primary care to "those who do not have isolation facility at their homes.” The chairman called upon "practicing Parsi doctors residing in and around Surat, who are willing to provide voluntary medical services to come forward” on daily, or on alternate days, or bi-weekly basis as convenient and volunteers "to provide their services in the proposed ward in assisting Hospital staff under the guidance of doctors and nurses.” His WhatsApp message requested community members to get in touch with the SPP office on 0261-2423221, 2432987 or on
sppanchayat@gmail.com or
office@suratparsipanchayat.com to "assist in this humanitarian endeavor.”
The Parsi-only Hospital with a one-time peak capacity of "nearly 100 beds” currently has only 10 beds occupied, but is gradually adding new facilities, Mehta had told Parsiana (see "Surat Hospital additions,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, March 21- April 6, 2021).