Major infra upgrade at NIMS, Harish Rao promises 200 more ICU beds

Hyderabad: Healthcare infrastructure at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) is being augmented in a major way by the State government, with 200 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds approved and to be ready by mid-January. Health Minister T Harish Rao, who inaugurated various new facilities at the Institute here on Tuesday said the 200 […]

Hyderabad: Healthcare infrastructure at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) is being augmented in a major way by the State government, with 200 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds approved and to be ready by mid-January.

Health Minister T Harish Rao, who inaugurated various new facilities at the Institute here on Tuesday said the 200 additional beds would take the total number of ICU beds available at the Institute to 350.

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“Earlier, patients had to struggle to get a bed here and more beds were approved following the resolve of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to strengthen NIMS,” he said.

Another crucial addition was the ventilator facility, for which poor patients earlier used to struggle or end up spending lakhs of rupees. From just 89 ventilators, the State government is enhancing this life-saving facility by procuring 120 new ventilators.

“Instructions have been given to make the new ventilators and ICU beds available to poor patients in the next 45 days,” Rao said.

During interactions, heads of departments at the Institute sought some more equipment for NIMS to be able to function at the level of corporate hospitals.

“Requests were made from different departments including radiology, pathology, micro-biology, biochemistry and nephrology and an amount of Rs.153 crore is required for these equipment. Robotic surgery is not available in the government sector. An amount of Rs 154 crore is being approved for new equipment,” the Minister said.

Under Arogyasri, bone marrow transplantation is being offered free of cost at NIMS and presently five patients were undergoing treatment. A decision has also been taken to set up a gynaecology department with 200 beds attached at NIMS. This will come to the aid of women facing issues of high risk pregnancies.

NIMS officials were directed to provide a proper diet to all patients admitted at NIMS and it was decided to talk to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to set up a Rs.5 meal centre for attendants, the Minister added.

Omicron Threat

So far, not a single case of Omicron has been reported in Telangana and all required steps and preventive measures were being taken up by the administration, Harish Rao said.

Appealing to citizens to follow required safety protocols, he said that following instructions from the Chief Minister, it was decided to ramp up Covid testing and to conduct 1 lakh tests every day.

The various facilities inaugurated by the Health Minister on Tuesday included endoscopy equipment, stem cell research facility, physiotherapy wing and bone densitometer. Various facilities costing around Rs.12 crore were made available for the patients, he said.