Dr. Edega was trying to be a Glory Hound through Lucky.
He hasn't exactly interacted with the other patients much (the only other person who comments on him is Nicole, who just seems to think he's creepy), and obviously, being able to claim he helped to restore Lucky to his home-run hitting prime would have been a massive addition to his resume.
Dr. Edega isn't just trying to be more efficient, he's skimming funds.
While the precise nature of how hospitals are funded in this country isn't clear, it would make sense that more resources are allocated to a hospital with more patients, and obviously the more employees you have, the more funds you have to allocate to pay them. Not only is the hiring freeze in place even to the obvious detriment of Ada and Ian (and perhaps of the Intern's performance), Ian mentions in the tutorial to 5-2N that he's been having trouble sending patients home due to Edega pushing him to advance the device's capabilities, which Edega shrugs off. Perhaps all this is set up to get more funds directed to the hospital...but there doesn't seem to be much new added beyond the Rhythm Doctor program, that's seemingly being developed by Ian alone, and none of the employees have received any raises; the poor Janitor is stuck with a child's desk. Perhaps it's all a ploy for Edega to have something to skim off of?
