Kamineni assures help to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences

Tirupati: Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) celebrated its silver jubilee function at Mahati Auditorium here on Monday. The Minister for Health Dr Kamineni Srinivas participated as chief guest and wished the Institution should continue its development towards golden jubilee with more achievements.

The founder of SVIMS and former Chief Minister of AP NT Rama Rao’s name should be remembered in the history of the institute for ever, he said. Addressing the gathering of students, faculty, nurses and other staff, the Minister assured of all help from the government to the institute. “SVIMS became our only premier institute after bifurcation of State,’’ he said.

The Minister added that 25 years was not a small period and during this period the Institute has progressed remarkably well. Even the doctors may have rest but the services of the hospital will never have a rest and the Institute was rendering excellent services all the time. The President of India Ramnath Kovind during his first official visit outside Delhi, inaugurated the SVIMS Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women’s Hospital, Srinivas said. 

In his annual report, the Director-cum-Vice-Chancellor Dr TS Ravikumar applauded all the directors, faculty, staff and students who served as building blocks over the 25 years. Saying that SVIMS was the best in state with regard to outreach camps, he stated that another such programme will soon be rolled out is ‘Pink Bus’, with focus on Women’s cancer screening and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) screening at the community level.

“Two new programmes were unveiled by the Health Minister on Monday. While one was Centre for Quality, Patient Safety and Leadership Academy as well as public health and the other one was the Institute for Lung Disorders”, he disclosed.

The Director, however, pointed out that it will not be possible to meet the expectation to be on par with the AIIMS with the dismal funding for the institute. He mentioned that SVIMS grant in aid from Ministry was Rs.60 lakhs per annum whereas AIIMS grant in aid from central government in 2017 was Rs.2400 crore and in 2018 it has been hiked by 25 percent to Rs.3018 crore.

Dr Ravikumar also pointed out that SVIMS was the only institute without salary budget and its only revenue budget for maintenance was Rs.24 crore from TTD and called for remedy.  

Dean Dr PVLN Srinivasa Rao, Registrar Dr TC Kalawat, Medical Superintendent Dr Aloksachan, SPMC-W Principal Dr  M Hanumantha Rao, Former Director Dr B Vengamma, MLA M Suguna, MLC BN Rajasimhulu, TUDA Chairman G Narasimha Yadav, Chittoor Additional SP GR Radhika and others also spoke on the occasion.