Rs 60 crore hospital unused due to lack of staff

Nellore: The most modern government general hospital built at an estimated cost of around Rs 60 crore in the premises of AC Subba Reddy Government Medical College in the city has been lying idle for over six months after its inauguration. 

It is the first of its kind hospital in Rayalaseema with a bed capacity of 700 and seven Modular Anesthetic and Surgical Pendants in the operation theatres.

The ICU with 120 beds has been divided equally for Medical, Surgical and Pediatric patients and has been equipped with advanced multichannel monitors to keep a tab on every patient. With new furniture, the five floor hospital building is equipped with seven lifts meant for use exclusively by inpatients and laboratories. The old building will continue to be used for outpatients and casualty wings apart from administration department. The gigantic new building has not been put to use allegedly because of insufficient sanitary and security staff besides delay in readying the operation theatres.

An associate professor said the hospital is continuing its operations in the old building because the hospital management is not confident of handling the huge building with the available manpower. According to the hospital authorities, tenders have to be called at the state level to hire contractors for sanitation and security staff but the process has not been started yet.

What worries the authorities is that the human resources is also not in tune with the outstanding facilities in the hospital. The hospital lacks professors and associate professors in important departments such as medicine and surgery. Sources in the hospital said that there are only two professors and two associate professors in the surgical department while the requirement is for four people in each department. The situation is no different in Medicine and Pediatric departments also.