Area Hospital opened, but not operational

Kothagudem: When will medical and health services commence in the newly-built Bhadrachalam Area Hospital? On record, the hospital’s bed strength has doubled to 200. New buildings have been built at a cost of Rs 18.14 crore. Medical equipment has been procured at a cost of Rs 1.03 crore.

With the usual fanfare, R and B Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao and Medical and Health Minister Dr Lakshma Reddy inaugurated the hospital building on July 24. The story should not end there, but that seems to be harsh reality.

Following promises made during the inauguration, people of the Bhadrachalam Agency area thought it would be just a matter of days before they can readily access corporate-level health facilities and avail of the benefits of modern medical equipment right at their doorstep.

But, ground realities suggest that the new medical facility may not be thrown open to the public as soon as expected. As of now, it does not have the required strength of medical officers and non-medical personnel.

The Agency people feel let down as what they believed would be ‘their’ hospital remains out of bounds for them even one month after its formal inauguration.

The hospital ought to have been inaugurated only after recruitment of the personnel. Observers cite the instance of the Mother and Child Health Center at Khammam, which was inaugurated after recruiting the medical officers and other personnel.

In contrast, the Area Hospital building was inaugurated first and the recruitment of its personnel took a back seat. The ministers did go on record that “within 15 days medical officers and staff will be recruited”.

The Area Hospital here has been upgraded to a 200-bed hospital. For a hospital with a bed strength of 100, the usual requirement is 18 medical officers, 24 nursing staffers, 15 sweepers and 35 sanitary personnel. All they need to do now is to recruit appropriate personnel in tune with the increased bed strength.

By PV Satyanarayana