Telangana: BSc in allied health sciences now at teaching hospitals

The State government has allowed nine government teaching hospitals to offer a total of 860 seats in BSc allied health sciences from this academic year, i.e. 2022-23

Hyderabad: For the first time, the Telangana government has permitted government teaching hospitals to start conducting BSc courses in allied health sciences.

This is being seen as a major step towards ensuring that there is a steady supply of technical expertise needed for various medical departments in government hospitals and even in the private sector.

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Historically, across the country, there has been a chronic shortage of qualified trained technicians who are needed to perform critical functions in technologies related to anaesthesia, operation theatres, dialysis, critical care, cardiovascular technology and other medical departments.

Realising the need to enlarge the pool of human resources needed to support the burgeoning medical infrastructure in government hospitals and, in the process, to also improve the quality and accuracy of healthcare services, the Telangana government has allowed nine government teaching hospitals to offer a total of 860 seats in BSc allied health sciences from this academic year, i.e. 2022-23.

So far, the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) was the only institution offering such courses. To address this shortage of BSc allied health sciences, the State government issued Essentiality Certificate/No Objection Certificate to launch first-year BSc allied health technical courses in nine government medical colleges.

The KNR University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), Warangal, will come up with a framework and fill the 860 BSc allied health courses. The hospital-wise breakup of the 860 seats is: Gandhi Hospital (150), Osmania General Hospital (210), Kakatiya Medical College (130), RIMS, Adilabad (60), Government Medical College Nizamabad (110), Government Medical College, Siddipet (50), Government Medical College, Nalgonda (40), Government Medical College, Suryapet (40), and Government Medical College, Mahabubnagar (70).

The courses that will be offered include anaesthesia technology, operation theatre technology, respiratory therapy technology, renal dialysis technology, neuroscience technology, critical care technology, radiology and imaging technology, audiology and speech therapy, medical records sciences, optometric technology, critical care, and cardiac and cardiovascular technology.