Battery-operated stretcher inaugurated at Ruia hospital

Tirupati: The first battery-operated stretcher in Andhra Pradesh was inaugurated at SVR Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati on Saturday. District Collector PS Pradyumna said that the stretcher will be very useful for taking the patients from one place to another in sprawling campus of the hospital which has 17 blocks and it was pollution free.

The vehicle cost about Rs 4.7 lakh was donated by District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB). The government is spending 90 per cent on welfare and if people spend the remaining 10 percent they will have some responsibility and supervision will be increased, the Collector opined. Later, he met the hospital administration and expressed his unhappiness over its functioning.

“As Hospital Development Society Chairman I have given approvals for many. But I am not in receipt of their progress. You have to change your attitude,” he told the Superintendent. He enquired about the bio-metric attendance also in the hospital. DCCB Chairman A Rajasekhar Reddy, who has donated the vehicle with hospital funds said that the bank will pay the salaries for two vehicle operators for one year.

Collector told the Hospital superintendent to employ women or transgenders as battery vehicle operators. He also agreed to establish DCCB ATM in Ruia Hospital premises. Superintendent Dr Sidda Naik, SV Medical College Principal Dr NV Ramanaiah, Maternity Hospital Superintendent Dr V Bhavani, Ruia RMO Dr Sreehari and others took part.