The Municipal Gosha hospital, which is all set for its centenary celebrations next March, has a glorious past, before it became defunct 10 years ago.
The hospital has now resumed its services by offering Ayurvedic services to people, thanks to intervention of Prakasam Collector and Municipal Corporation Special Officer G.S.R.K.R. Vijaykumar.
The hospital on the Rajapanagal road has rendered allopathic services to people particularly women in Ongole since 1915, when institutional delivery was few and far between. The foundation stone for the hospital was laid by A.G. Carden, member of Executive Council Chennai on March 1, 1915, with members of the Velagapudi family in Tangutur mandal who had donated two acres to the civic body after an engineer Tetu Dora, who was maintaining the Buckingham canal, mooted the proposal for setting up a hospital, recalled Velagapudi Sridharan, a retired head post master while speaking to The Hindu .
The hospital was initially run by Dr. R.A. Jacob and then by Dr. Lilly Sundaram with the revenue generated from Velagapudi village which used to be diverted to the civic body following the orders of then Ongole Sub-collector, added Mr. Sridharan, who has been running from pillar to post for the revival of the hospital.
The hospital was starved of funds when revenue from the village went to Tangutur mandal during the Mandal reorganisation done by then TDP government in the 1980s, added Mr Sridharan, who also practices Acupressure .
Treating a steady stream of patients, Dr. G. Padmajathi, Senior Medical Officer at the Government Ayurvedic Hospital said: “The hospital still needs replenishment of medicines worth around Rs. 50,000 every month to offer best healthcare.”
