There are only a few takers for the ambitious Central hospital set up for beedi workers on the outskirts of Vemulawada temple town, as it remains inaccessible to those living in the district and around.
The then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had inaugurated the hospital for the benefit of beedi workers of the erstwhile Karimnagar district in September 2012. Initially, it was opened in a temporary school building with 15 beds.
And since its inception, the hospital has been ill-equipped without regular staff and doctors. Only one pharmacist is a regular employee, while a doctor and two paramedical staff are outsourced employees.
The Union government had planned to open a permanent hospital with 50-beds for beedi workers in Sircilla textile town where the highest number of beedi workers reside. Accordingly, the site for the hospital was allocated, but it is nearing five years since with no action in sight. There is no permanent structure for the hospital or full-time staff to provide medical assistance.
Few patients
The hospital staff say only about 15 patients come to the hospital every day, that too for out patient treatment. Due to the location and no proper transportation facilities, the beedi workers and their families have been unable to utilise the facility.
Bhudamma, a beedi-worker from Vemulawada town who visited the hospital on Friday, complained that there was no lady doctor to get her gynaecological problems treated. “It is embarrassing to tell my woes to the male doctor, so I’m going back home without availing treatment,” she said.
Former Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar, who was instrumental in sanctioning the central hospital for beedi workers, said there was no response from the government for the construction of a permanent hospital building. “I had personally met Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and represented the issue, but in vain,” he said.
