Mahabubnagar sees a change in public heathcare

Mahabubnagar: Some of the best things which happened to Palamuru after the formation of Telangana was getting a Government Medical College, a complete revamp of Mahabubnagar Government Hospital and having a son of the soil as the Health Minister.

Any patient who has been availing healthcare services at the government hospital would say how much the hospital has transformed in the past four years, after the formation of Telangana. The change is visible in the spic-n-span premises maintained by sanitation workers in the hospital.

On the infrastructure front, the hospital has seen many changes. With Rs 60 lakh, a Central Sterilisation Department (CSD) has been setup in the hospital, where students are being trained about how to use it by qualified technicians.

A new dialysis unit would be started after March 12 at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore, in addition to the existing dialysis unit which has six dialysis machines and another one exclusively for HBSAG+ patients.

A Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) which was started when Kiran Kumar Reddy was the Chief Minister of erstwhile AP is taking care of newborns with birth complications. The hospital is also equipped with a special child care unit for children between 6 months to 5 years with nutritional and other deficiencies. A Direct Radiography machine which gives 3D view of the radiograph has been procured at a cost of Rs 2 crore.

To address the increasing demand arising from high risk cases (mostly with patients having low hemoglobin levels) coming from four districts to this hospital, proposals have been sent to the government for a Maternal Intensive Care Unit, so that these cases wouldn’t have to be referred to Hyderabad. There is also a separate ward for maternity with 60 beds which has been sanctioned for this hospital recently. A Surgical Intensive Care Unit with 10 beds has already been inaugurated and a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with five beds in the anvil, in addition to a new Central Laboratory coming up here.

Operation theatres are being modernised at a cost of Rs 70 lakh and soon a Trauma Care Centre is going to start here. The hospital administration is also taking steps to convert the maternity ward into centralise air conditioned ward so that mothers and babies won’t have to bear the brunt of harsh summer while getting treated at the hospital. The casualty is soon going to be expanded from 10 beds to 30 beds.

A well-equipped ambulance costing Rs 40 lakh is available at the hospital. This is the kind of ambulance which would be pushed into action even if the Prime Minister visits the district. This, in addition to 102 vehicles to pick-up and drop-back pregnant women and mothers to and from the hospital back to their homes.

There is also an ART Centre in the hospital where HIV+ patients from four districts (united Mahabubnagar district) get their medication. On the operational front, the hospital administration has done some innovative things. Launching ‘Dawakhana app’ to address the needs of patients, introducing biometric attendance, digitisation of hospital records, starting a new out-patient counter has helped achieve operational efficiency.

However, there is a need for providing certain basic facilities such as drinking water, toilets, retiring rooms (sheds) for patient attendants, drainage, sanitation, security and installation of borewells at the premises.

For this, it would cost Rs 4-5 crore, proposals of which have been sent to the Health Minister and the Principal Secretary, and are pending approval. Proposals for setting-up a Breast Milk Bank has also been sent to the government for approval, to help orphaned newborns.

MLA Srinivas Goud has assured that four small internal parks would be established on hospital premises. Representations have also been sent by the hospital’s administration to the municipal administration to address the problem of rodents and pigs. Action from the municipality is still awaited. A request has been made to enhance the budget for emergency drugs to meet the increasing demand.

The biggest issue facing the hospital is the need for more quality manpower to meet the increasing demand of patients. “There is a need to fill the gap of manpower here. Staff needs to be upgraded as per the increased flow of patients and this staff needs to be trained well,” said Dr D Ramkishan, Superintendent of Mahabubnagar Government Hospital.

Unfortunately, salaries of doctors working in rural areas are less than the ones working in Hyderabad. This has become a deterrent for doctors opting to work here, because they have to incur high travel expenses to come here all the way from Hyderabad.

To this, Dr Ramkishan suggested that doctors who opt for working in rural areas should be compensated better than city hospitals and should be given more incentives such as rural allowances, which would make working in rural areas more attractive for prospective healthcare professionals. “If just two people do the work of 10 people, then obviously they would become irritated and it will show in their behaviour. It may also encourage corruption,” he said.

The hospital administration is spending Rs 4 crore annually to pay salaries to outsourcing staff and Rs 15 lakh every month to keep the premises clean.