Established in 1965 at Peda Waltair in the city, Rani Chandramani Devi (RCD) Children’s Hospital, is poised to become a 600-bed Super-Speciality Children’s Hospital, if the plans of the State government are materialised. The State government recently announced establishment of three multi-specialty children’s hospitals in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada/Guntur.
“We have already submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the government for construction of the 600-bed hospital on the premises of the RCD hospital which has been treating children with physical disabilities due to polio and cerebral palsy. District Collector V. Vinay Chand is taking keen interest in the project. The advantage for Visakhapatnam is that 32 acres of land is readily available for construction of the hospital. The buildings will be constructed on 5 acres of land,” Andhra Medical College Principal P.V. Sudhakar told The Hindu .
“Post-bifurcation, there is no super-specialty children hospital in Andhra Pradesh. We had been planning since long for the establishment of an exclusive hospital for children with all paediatric sub-specialties like paediatric cardiology, paediatric oncology and paediatric surgery on the lines of the Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad,” says Dr. Sudhakar.
Origin of RCD hospital
“The Paediatrics Ward in the King George Hospital (KGH) is always full with more than 100% occupancy all through the year. Many a time, more than one child has to be accommodated on a single bed due to the high demand and shortage of beds and despite the best treatment,” he says.
“The present building housing the RCD Hospital originally belonged to Godey Narayana Gajapathi Rao but changed hands after his second daughter Rani Laxmi Narasayamma married Kurupam Raja Veerabhadra Raju. Rani Chandramani Devi was the daughter of a zamindar of Bissamcuttack in Odisha and wife of Vyricherla Narayana Gajapathi Raju,” says historian Vijjeswarapu Edward Paul.
“Rani Chandramani Devi used to suffer from backache and was treated by the noted orthopaedician M. Gopala Kini, who was posted at the KGH in Visakhapatnam as Professor of Operative Surgery during the 1930s. Dr. Kini had settled down in Bombay post retirement and during the 1960s, Rani Chandramani Devi visited him there for treatment,” he says.
“She was impressed by Dr. Kini’s clinic in Bombay and wanted to establish a Children’s Hospital in Visakhapatnam and donated her summer palace and the 32-acre land surrounding it for establishment of the hospital,” Mr. Paul adds.
