Kothagudem: In a significant move to ensure quality health services to residents in the remotely located Cherla mandal, the district administration is making efforts to engage specialist doctors to serve at the local Community Health Centre (CHC).
District Collector Anudeep Durishetty had submitted a proposal to bring the CHC under the purview of the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (TVVP) to Health Minister T Harish Rao during his recent visit to the district. At present, the hospital is being managed by the Directorate of Public Health and Family Welfare and bringing it under TVVP helps to offer full-fledged specialist services including Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) services.
Thanks to Collector Durishetty and District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS) Dr. Ravi Babu, the CHC, which was once in a neglected and dilapidated state, has been modernised by spending Rs.1.40 crore.
A 40-bedded maternity ward has been constructed, while the existing CEmONC centre has 10 beds in addition to birth waiting rooms. Plans are being made to increase the bed strength utilising two existing wards at the CHC, Dr. Ravi Babu told Telangana Today.
With the initiative of Government Whip and MLA Rega Kantha Rao, Rajya Sabha member Dr. Bandi Parthasaradhi Reddy provided Rs35 lakh to the hospital. Rs.15 lakh each will be spent to procure operation theatre and medical lab equipment while Rs.5 lakh was set aside for other needs.
With the Collector requesting the Health Minister to sanction required cadre strength, the process of hiring a gynaecologist, anaesthetist, paediatricians, lab technicians and nursing staff is underway. A proposal to offer Rs.1 lakh additionally to specialist doctors is made in addition to the prescribed monthly salary. The process of hiring the doctors will be completed within a month after which the hospital will start offering health services.
It is planned to construct a mortuary at the CHC at a cost of Rs.15 lakh as the locals are at present forced to take bodies to Bhadrachalam Area Hospital for autopsy spending large amounts of money and time, Dr. Ravi Babu said.