The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : GGH officials draw flak

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

GGH officials draw flak

Staff Reporter

Kakinada: Union Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju has expressed dissatisfaction that the quality of services being rendered at Government General Hospital (GGH) here is falling in spite of the claims to the contrary.

Addressing the hospital development committee meeting, Mr. Pallam Raju said the GGH authorities appeared to have completely neglected their duties and they should own up responsibility for declining standards in the GGH, which caters to the Godavari districts and parts of Krishna district. Sanitary conditions on the hospital premises were pathetic. As a result, the risk of infections to inpatients was high.

Mr. Pallam Raju ordered GGH Superintendent M. Surya Kumari to constitute a committee with the heads of departments concerned to improve the situation at the earliest, lest the GGH should become a symbol of government’s failure to provide quality health care to the needy.

Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi said he would not tolerate complaints about some doctors and para-medical staff demanding money from patients as about 95 per cent of those coming to the hospital for medical aid hailed from poor families.

Even otherwise, the GGH was supposed to render free services to the needy. Similarly, medicines should be distributed free of cost.

Life-saving drugs and equipment should be purchased through open tenders, he said.

Collector’s warning

Mr. Dwivedi said he would not hesitate to initiate criminal proceedings against doctors who unnecessarily refer patients to private clinics in which they might be holding stakes.

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