In a glaring instance of neglect at the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), a premier government-run teaching hospital in Ballari, a vast portion of the roof of an operation theatre (OT) collapsed early on Tuesday.
Fortunately, no surgery was being conducted in the OT located on the ground floor of the OT complex. The incident took place around 5 a.m.
Enquires revealed that the entire OT complex was in a dilapidated condition. The governing council of the hospital had directed that the ground floor OT be put to use until the renovation of the other OTs were completed. The renovation of this OT was to be taken up shortly.
VIMS Director in charge, Prabhanjan, told The Hindu that he immediately ordered closure of the damaged OT. After holding a meeting with the department staff, he proposed that surgeries could be performed at the renovated OT on the second floor and if necessary, it could be shifted to the district hospital. “I have ordered its closure. Steps will be taken to get it renovated as early as possible,” he said.
However, Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil said that the roof had collapsed in an abandoned OT. “This is an old building and has been taken up for repair as per recommendations of civil engineering experts. All surgeries are being done in the OTs on the second floor, which has been repaired. Work on repairing the ground floor OT will begin soon,” he said.
Dismissing criticism that instead of upgrading facilities in the existing hospital buildings, the government had taken up construction of new facilities, the Minister said: “We have called tenders for construction of a new OT complex in the hospital at a cost of ₹24 crore.”
VIMS is the only biggest government hospital in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region catering to the medical needs of people in and around the district and also in the neighbouring districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The collapse of the roof clearly goes to show the sorry state of affairs at the autonomous institute. The incident coincided with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city.
The VIMS is being run by in charge directors since 2012 and the government has not yet initiated steps to appoint a permanent director.
There have been lots of complaints about non-availability of basic equipment such as gloves, blades and syringes for performing surgeries. Patients are being asked to get them from pharmacies mainly because tenders for procuring the materials were not finalised.
