IPW building lying unused for 6 months

Tirupati: It seems there is no end to the woes of pregnant women, which were continuing for years, as the Rs 77 crore worth Institute of Pregnant Women building is not brought into use yet even after it was re-inaugurated by the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in August 2017. 

• Building worth `77 crore re-inaugurated by Venkaiah in Aug 2017
• So far, no medical equipment was purchased for IPW 

The four-storeyed building stands as a testimony of state government’s negligence towards providing basic amenities in government hospitals. The 300-bedded hospital having more operation theatres and other amenities.

The existing government maternity hospital was inadequate and both pregnant women and doctors were facing hardship with the inflow of patients. Around 300 women visit the outpatient department daily and 900-1,000 deliveries take place in a month with more than 35 discharges every day.  Most of the time, it was a common practice in the maternity hospital that a bed has to be shared by two mothers.

To overcome these problems, it was proposed to construct IPW building with the initiative of then Tirupati MP Chinta Mohan in February 2014 for which the central government has sanctioned Rs 77 crore. Soon after the building was completed, it was given to SVIMS for its Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women for a maximum period of two years. After much and hue and cry, the government finally vacated the building and handed over it to the DM&HO in August 2017. 

Since then, the government started showing its negligence and handed over the building to the Superintendent of Maternity Hospital only in mid-November. At the inaugural function of it in August 2017, Health Minister Dr Kamineni Srinivas has said that all the equipment, infrastructure etc will be provided on war footing in 45 days which has yet to be materialised even after six months and no one bothered about it. 

Recently, Senior Regional Director for Telangana and AP in Regional office of Health and Family Welfare Dr Anuradha Medoju led a team to inspect the IPW and found several lapses in it. In her report, she clearly mentioned that there was no hospital was running in that premises. 
She recommended that the vacant building is ready for occupation and instruments can be procured early and starts the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department accordingly.

Out of the sanctioned amount of Rs 77 crore, Rs 20 crore were earmarked for procurement of equipment and the funds were released to the state government by the Centre. Former MP Chinta Mohan also alleged that it was due to the failure of BJP and TDP governments, the hospital was lying vacant. 

It may be noted that, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, who laid foundation stone to the IPW building in February 2014, organised a press conference along with former MP Dr Chinta Mohan inside the hospital on Sunday and criticised the government for its failure in bringing the facility to use. 

When contacted the Superintendent of Maternity Hospital Dr V Bhavani told The Hans India that they cannot move into the new building without adequate security arrangements, sanitation and equipment. Some other works also going on in the new building. Now, TTD was providing the security and they expressed their inability to provide more. 

All this was taken to the notice of DME and he assured to look into the matter. Even after bringing the hospital to use, there would be only partial utilisation of the building because of no adequate number of nurses and other staff. Principal Dr NV Ramanaiah also expressed the same view. Unfortunately, the elected representatives of the city were not bothered about the issue.

By V Pradeep Kumar