SCCL Bellampalli Area Hospital waits for attention

Once a major solace for coal miners, the area hospital is now failing to live up to expectations in offering medical services for employees of the coal major

Mancherial: The State-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s (SCCL) Area Hospital in Bellampalli town is crying for the attention of authorities.

Once a major solace for coal miners, the area hospital is now failing to live up to expectations in offering medical services for employees of the coal major. It has no sufficient super specialty doctors and infrastructure. Its buildings are in dilapidated condition, causing inconvenience to in-patients. Maintenance of the facility has been left to the wind.

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Various services in radiology, diagnosis departments are rendered by contract-based employees. Paramedical staff were outsourced. Doctors of the area hospital are referring patients to the SCCL Area Hospital of Ramakrishnapur. The hospital is not providing cardiology, general surgeon physician, anesthesia, neurology and other super specialty oriented services.

A major portion of nurses have reached superannuation age. Casualty, general, male, maternity and female wards are currently functioning. One of the wards in male and female wards is on the cusp of closure. The hospital has no pharmacist and radiologist, hitting services to pregnant women. The number of beds was reduced from 200 to 50.

Consequently, the miners are forced to depend on private hospitals in Mancherial district centre, Karimnagar and Hyderabad to undergo treatment for treating various diseases, shelling huge amounts. “I visited a nursing home in Mancherial town after doctors expressed their inability to handle delivery of my daughter,” S Mallaiah, a coal miner from Goleti regretted.

Bellampalli Area Hospital Deputy Chief Medical Officer Shoury said efforts were being made to ensure better quality medical services to coal miners. He alleged that the SCCL did not sanction funds to boost infrastructure of the facility in recent times.