Don’t turn away patients for lack of staff, Udupi DC tells hospital

Mother and child hospital told to set a target of 400 deliveries at least a month

Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati chairing a meeting of the monitoring committee of Government Mother and Child Hospital in Udupi recently.

Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati said that no patient should be turned away from the Government Mother and Child Hospital here for the lack of doctors or staff.

According to a press release issued by the Department of Information on Tuesday, Ms. Korlapati gave this direction while chairing a meeting of the monitoring committee of Kosamma Shambhu Shetty Memorial Haji Abdulla Government Mother and Child Hospital on July 20.

Ms. Korlapati said adequate staff should be appointed at the hospital. She also said it should target conducting a minimum of 400 deliveries a month. She directed the supervisor of the hospital to provide a 24-hour scanning facility for pregnant women. The supervisor agreed to do so and appoint a radiologist within this month.

Ms. Korlapati directed the hospital supervisor to admit cases of premature delivery at the hospital as inpatients and seek the necessary documents after treatment. When Ms. Korlapati sought information about the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, Guruprasad, paediatrician, said there were 11 beds in the unit and three ventilators were ready.

At the meeting, it was informed that laproscopy equipment has been purchased at the hospital. The hospital supervisor said that pregnant women from other government hospitals in the district were being referred to the Government Mother and Child Hospital and this made it difficult to provide services in time.

To this, Ms. Korlapati suggested that a WhatsApp group of doctors of all government hospitals and the mother and child hospital should be created to deal with the matter.

The hospital supervisor said some patients below the age of 18 get admitted without ID cards and then escape. Mr. Korlapati said that when such a case comes to light, the hospital should register a police case along with the relevant CCTV clip.

Jagadish, Joint Director (Medical), Health and Family Welfare, Bengaluru, Ramachandra Bairy, Joint Director, Mysuru division, M.G. Rama, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, and Madhusudhan Nayak, District Surgeon, were present.