Telangana spends Rs 300 cr on medical infrastructure

In a massive drive aimed at creating crucial medical infrastructure that would be accessible to future generations and make Telangana self-reliant, the State government has invested nearly Rs 300 crore in augmenting capacities across districts and teaching hospitals.

In the process of improving medical infrastructure at government hospitals after the Covid wave, the State Health Department has procured vital medical equipment worth Rs 133.9 crore, invested Rs 103 crore to set up oxygen generating plants and spent another Rs 53.58 crore to establish oxygen lines for individual hospital beds.

Apart from medical infrastructure, the department also ended up improving diagnostic services while fighting Covid-19. From just one RT-PCR laboratory at Gandhi Hospital, the number of RT-PCR testing facilities have now reached 25, and in the coming months such laboratories will be established in all the 33 districts.

Since June, authorities launched massive efforts to create infrastructure to generate, store and eventually supply medical oxygen to patients’ bed side in government hospitals.

“Telangana has a total of 27,996 beds in government hospitals out of which we have established dedicated oxygen lines for 21,045 beds, which is no mean feat. Moreover, we have also created infrastructure to generate oxygen,” says Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr G Srinivasa Rao.
As part of efforts to generate oxygen within the premises of government hospitals, authorities have established 132 oxygen generation plants in several district and teaching hospitals in Telangana.

The State government allocated Rs 103 crore to establish 132 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants in government-hospitals. Out of the 132 PSA plants, 51 oxygen facilities have 1,000 litres per minute (LPM) capacity, 61 units have 500 LPM capacity and 20 oxygen generating units have 250 LPM capacity.

“The infrastructure created in government hospitals will be useful for multiple medical conditions and not just for Covid pandemic. The new medical infrastructure will be helpful for years to come,” Dr Srinivasa Rao added. Telangana Today