On Gandhi, Damodar Hits Back at BRS With Stats

Hyderabad:In a fresh exchange of accusations, the Congress government hit back at the BRS with data on the government’s support for Gandhi Hospital. Health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha said that plans are underway to establish a separate administration department in major state-run hospitals.

Rajanarsimha listed the government’s efforts to fill up the posts in the health department and provide funds for the improvement of basic amenities at Gandhi Hospital.

Accusing the previous BRS government of neglecting key infrastructure, the minister listed several issues, including the absence of maintenance funds for Gandhi Hospital, the failure to appoint MRI technicians and a lack of hostels for medical students.

He held while the BRS government had left the medical and health sector in an abysmal condition, the Congress government is now trying to reinvigorate it. Responding to the controversy of maternal and neonatal deaths at Gandhi Hospital, the health minister criticised the BRS' attempts to politicise the issue.

Rajanarsimha accused the previous BRS-led administration of leaving the healthcare sector in disarray. "In three years, 25 medical colleges were hastily set up, requiring 3,368 teaching staff, but only 1,078 were recruited during your tenure," he stated, adding that Congress has been working to address these staffing shortages by transferring experienced staff from other colleges and recruiting additional faculty.

"We have recruited 643 teaching faculty in all the colleges including Gandhi, Osmania and Kakatiya as per the contract proposal. Around 612 assistant professors are going to be recruited soon. The finance department sanctioned 19,530 posts under the Directorate of Medical Education in new medical colleges during your (BRS) regime but less than 1,500 had been filled. Our government has already filled 7,308 posts in all departments and another 5,660 posts are going to be filled," the minister explained.

Rajanarsimha also pointed out the pending bills of `45 crore as of October 2023 in Gandhi Hospital. He also criticised that medical students lacked hostel facilities, basic maintenance issues like toilet repairs were ignored and no funds were allocated for building upkeep or crucial equipment such as ECG machines and MRI technicians.

Key facilities like the State Organ Transplantation Centre and IVF Centre were established but remained non-operational. In contrast, the Congress government, he said, is working to transform Gandhi Hospital with an `80 crore allocation for hostel construction and `15 crore for repairs.

Recent upgrades include a 65-bed ICU, a 20,000-liter liquid oxygen tank, modern kitchens, and other facilities. He assured that the Congress government was committed to transparency and improving public healthcare.