The poorly maintained ESI hospital at Malkapuram would make way for a 300-bed super-speciality ESI facility, Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya said on Sunday. The existing 100-bed hospital has gone into disrepair and all inpatient wards have been closed. Only out-patients are being treated. The roof of the operation theatre, which, on an average, witnesses 10 surgeries every day, is also on the verge of collapse.
After having a look at the pathetic condition of the hospital and reviewing the situation with officials of the Central Labour Department and the ESI Corporation, the Union Minister expressed his dissatisfaction at the poor maintenance. He was accompanied by Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu, Visakha West MLA P. G. V. R. Naidu, Visakha North MLA P. Vishnukumar Raju, and BMS national leader M. Jagadishwar Rao. The hospital had been built on a 10-acre plot leased from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust.
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After the lease had expired some time ago, maintenance of the hospital was neglected, and all the inpatient wards had been shut down.
VPT gesture
The Port Trust had agreed to extend the lease period and the issue would be taken up in the next board meeting scheduled for May 6, the Union Minister said, thanking VPT Chairman M. T. Krishna Babu for taking the initiative.
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The proposal to revamp the hospital was mooted in 2013, but then it was forgotten, Mr. Dattatreya said.
The hospital has eight out outpatient wards, including ophthalmology and orthopaedics. The staff strength has not been increased to meet the increasing number of patients, resulting in shortage of full-time employees.
“It is operating mostly with outsourced employees,” a senior nurse told the Minister.