Professionals to run Guntur GGH

hief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said that running of the Government General Hospital here would be handed over to professionals to ensure efficient management and administration of the teaching hospital.

Stating that firm measures needed to be taken to revamp the 1,177-bed GGH, Mr. Naidu said the recent death of a newborn at the paediatric surgery ward due to rodent bites was unfortunate and was emblematic of the problems prevailing in teaching hospitals.

Outsourcing

Mr. Naidu also said that technology enabled services such as crowd sourcing of diagnostic reports and outsourcing of services would be introduced shortly at all teaching hospitals.

The Chief Minister, who spent close to three hours, inspecting and later addressing doctors at the GGH, however, minced no words in warning them of severe action if they indulged in private practice in violation of norms. He also interacted with staff nurses at the GGH and warned them of severe action in case of dereliction of duties and corruption. He said medical personnel were now being paid good salaries after the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) and added incentives in the form of NTR Arogya Seva surgeries.

“It is unfortunate that some medical professionals are giving more importance to private practice. I will not spare any one found indulging in unethical practices,” Mr. Naidu said. Ministers Kamineni Srinivas (Health), P. Pulla Rao (Agriculture), R. Kishore Babu (Social Welfare), Principal Secretary (Health) L.V. Subramanyam were present.

Donations

Donations poured in for improvement of facilities at GGH as the Chief Minister made a spirited appeal for philanthropists to assist in revamping the largest teaching hospital in the State.

Natco Pharma donated Rs.1 crore which would be utilised to set up new facilities such as patient attendant sheds, toilets and waiting lounges.

LVR & Sons Club and Reading Room donated Rs.10 lakh. Club president Rayapati Srinivas handed over the cheque to Mr. Naidu while Sangam Dairy chairman and Ponnur MLA D. Narendra Kumar also presented a cheque for Rs.10 lakh to the CM.

One day salary

The heads of various government departments pledged their one day salary for the development of GGH.

While thanking the donors for their generosity, Mr. Naidu said he would explore the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in super specialties.

The Sahrudaya Trust formed by cardiac surgeon Gokhale had performed over 50 surgeries and a similar model would be replicated in other super specialties.

Former students of Guntur Medical College would also be involved in a big way in the development of GGH, the Chief Minister said.