AP Govt to increase beds in hospitals

Amaravati: There is no proper information available with the State government on the demand for beds in all general hospitals and other hospitals in the State.

Accepting the same, the officials of Medical and Health department said that they will take it now and provide beds to the hospitals based on the requirement. Patients have been suffering at different government hospitals in the State due to insufficient beds. Following shortage of beds, the helpless doctors are forced to allot single bed to two patients or even three patients in the hospitals. 

Though the flow of patients to general hospitals, maternity hospitals and other government hospitals in the State has been increasing due to the free services offered, because of the quality and free services being offered, there has not been much improvement in the basic facilities at the hospitals.

There are 22 hospitals under the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and 45 hospitals under the AP Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP) in the State and in addition to that there are some more hospitals in rural areas.

Meanwhile, Poonam Malakondaiah, Principal Secretary, Medical and Health Department, said that she would collect the estimated demand for the beds in each and every hospital in the State and ensure sufficient number of beds.  The estimates will be made to cater to the requirements for the next 10 to 15 years, she added.

She further explained that at present there are good number of hospitals in the State, and they also realised that the flow of the patients to these hospitals had increased.

She said that, unlike before, confidence of public increased on the government hospitals and they were getting admitted in the hospitals seeking treatment for various diseases. She added that the number of institutional deliveries in the government hospitals also increased tremendously.