Konathala for improvement of facilities at KGH

Visakhapatnam: Former Minister Konathala Ramakrishna, who visited the King George Hospital (KGH) here on Friday, to assess the medical facilities availability of doctors, staff and the lab facilities, felt the need to increase the present bed strength of 1,000 to at least 1,500.

Later, Konathala told reporters that patients not only from north Andhra districts, but also from Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are also coming to the KGH due to presence of experienced doctors and staff in the hospital. About the availability of lab services, he said that the government has provided a good facility inside the KGH with normal rates, but the problem is there is no scope to provide suitable medicare inside basing on lab reports.

With a good intention to dedicate the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) to Vizag people, the previous government has taken the initiative of setting up of the hospital in the city limits. “I recently met Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas in Vijayawada to request him not to privatise the VIMS for which the latter assured that there was no such proposal,” he added Believing the assurance given by Health Minister, Konathala felt if at all VIMS was privatised, the public should oppose it.

The former Minister said with the lack of sufficient doctors, the workload was increased which should be overcome by taking up recruitment of doctors and other staff every year as no government would escape from its basic responsibilities of providing education, medicare and social justice. He said that Andhra Medical College, too, has been facing lack of teachers and infrastructure and if it continued, the number of seats in PG courses will be reduced.