GHMC bags Centre of Excellence status

Visakhapatnam: The Government Hospital for Mental Care (GHMC) bagged Centre of Excellence (CoE) status for mental healthcare. The Union government accorded the status under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP).

With this status, the GHMC will be developed with advanced medical care, increase in bed-strength, manpower, new departments for psychiatric social workers, psychiatric nursing college, neurosciences and psychology departments.

Daycare centres and rehabilitation units for patients can also come up, all with the help of funds from the Central government. Under the CoE programme, the GHMC will get Rs 38 crore for all-round development of the hospital. In fact, the GHMC is supposed to get the CoE in 2016, however, it was delayed due to various reasons.

The GHMC, Visakhapatnam, is presently rendering services with 300 beds capacity. On an average, 75,000 patients are coming to the hospital per year from 13 districts. A large number of patients from the neighbouring states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh are also coming to the GHMC for treatment.   

Superintendent of GHMC Dr S Radha Rani said after CoE, three new departments would come up, including department of nursing with specialisation of psychiatric nursing and also M Phil Clinical Psychology and Social Work.

“The nursing course will be one-year with an intake of 40 students and M Phil Clinical Social Work programme is two years with an intake of 15 students per year. There is a huge demand for the both trained nurses and workers. 

The trained nurses and workers could be absorbed in the hospital and they can also get good jobs in the mental health institutions,” superintendent of GHMC Radha Rani told The Hans India. At present, the hospital buildings were constructed in 15 acres and also land was given to other hospitals, and another 15 acres of vacant land was there with the hospital, the superintendent said. 

From Rs 38 crore funding, the state government will share Rs 9.9 crore. With the help of the funds, new buildings, classrooms and new equipment would be acquired. Meanwhile, not only medical staff, but also non-technical staff would get jobs in the facility.

By VKL Gayatri