Gandhi Hospital will have a private player set up a diagnostic laboratory in the hospital’s Aarogyasri wing. Vijaya Diagnostics, the hospital’s partner under the PPP model, will manage the facility and provide services that are not available in the existing laboratory, authorities said.
The laboratory will enable detection of swine flu, kidney ailments, high-end diagnostic services based on genetics as well as diagnostics at the cellular level like HLA-typing to find matching donors for bone marrow and kidney transplantation.
In addition to Aarogyasri patients, the 24-hour facility will also be available for patients under the general category.
“Till now, our patients used to go outside for diagnostic services that were not available here. This is our attempt to provide such services under one roof. The hi-tech laboratory will ensure accurate and quick results, which will make treatment easy for the patients,” said Hospital Superintendent M. Chandrasekhar.
Officials said the new laboratory was certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
“Almost, 90 per cent of our patients fall under the Aarogyasri scheme and they usually go to corporate hospitals to avail such hi-end facilities. The NABL certified laboratory will go a long way in prov-iding best diagnostic services,” Dr. Chandrasekhar said.
Dissenting voices
Not everybody, however, is enthused. “What was the need to allow a private player to operate inside the government hospital premises? The existing diagnostic facility could have been upgraded by spending less than the amount to be spent through medical bill refunds under Aarogyasri insurance scheme to the private diagnostics company,” senior Gandhi hospital doctors pointed out.
This is the second PPP model that the hospital authorities have taken up in the last few years. Since 2009-10, the hospital has been extending dialysis facilities to kidney patients in the PPP mode.
