No word on new Niloufer Hospital block

Hyderabad: The new building of Niloufer Hospital inaugurated two months ago is lying unused as doctors and paramedical staff have not been allotted to the new premises. Following the five maternal deaths in the hospital in the past few days, the government is now asking the health department to appoint staff. Health minister Dr C. Laxma Reddy told health officials on Monday: “We want the new building to be functional.”

The three government-run maternity hospitals — Niloufer, Petlaburj and Koti — do not have intensive care units for mothers. Any case that deserves advance care is  shifted to the Osmania General Hospital where they are provided the necessary advanced care. The minister said an ICU would be set up in the new Niloufer building, and at the other two hospitals. A senior doctor said there was a proposal earlier to set up an ICU in the new building and give it to Osmania General Hospital doctors to manage, but it was strongly opposed by Niloufer doctors.

Major hospitals have other issues. There is a severe shortage of serelogy kits in Osmania General Hospital and the MRI machine is not working in Gandhi Hospital for long. A senior doctor at the meeting said these issues were taken to the notice of the minister. With MRI machines being ordered for the districts, there is a demand that the latest technology be first installed in the teaching hospitals.

Families approach SHRC:

Families of five young women who lost their life during child birth at the Niloufer Hospital have filed a complaint with State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) along with Helping Hand Foundation alleging human rights violations in the course of C-section surgeries of the women and subsequent medical management. The families have alleged that the doctor’s misbehaved with the relatives and were not giving proper information as to what went wrong in the operation theatre. They claim that they had been kept in dark.