Hyderabad: Suburban health officials brace to keep hospitals, medicine stocks ready

Rajendranagar: The officials from Ranga Reddy district's Health Department especially in Rajendranagar were put on alert amidst the reports of convulsing Covid-19 cases. District Collector Amoy Kumar held a review meeting with the officials from the Health department on Friday and took stock of the situation, the quantum of medicine and other precautionary measures.

According to health officials, no symptomatic or asymptomatic cases of contagion were detected so far in the Rajendranagar division. "Whatever we come across on a daily basis are largely seasonal flu cases for which we are having sufficient stock of medicines and adequate stock of booster shots to administer as and when it requires," informed Dr Srujana, Deputy District Medical and Health Officer (DM and HO) of Ranga Reddy.

According to official statistics there are a total of 12 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Upper Primary Health Centres (UPHCs) in Rajendranagar along with 24 Basti Dawakhanas. It is said that all these health-care facilities get regular stock of medicines including paracetamol, pain killers, antibiotics, calcium and iron supplements, multivitamin tablets, skin ointments, Cetrizine anti-allergen as well as anthelmintics from the Telangana State Medical Services Infrastructure Development Corporation (TSMSIDC) Shivrampally.

Dr Srujana said that the outpatient sections at PHCs and UPHCs usually witness a footfall somewhere between 100-150 patients on a daily basis, whereas, the Basti Dawakhanas observe a daily in-rush of 50-100 patients.

However, most of the people are found to be unhappy with the way the government health-care facilities are being run in Rajendranagar. Santosh, a resident of Rajendranagar said, "Generally, officials of the Health Department swing into action only when there is an emergency like situation. Otherwise, most of the health care facilities, especially in Rajendranagar, run without proper doctors and paramedical staff. He adds that shortage of medicines is forcing people to buy it from nearby pharmacies and are often left with no choice but to rush to corporate hospitals in the City for proper treatment.