Vijayawada: Government General Hospital Set to Get Super Specialty Ward

Two years after it was started, construction work on the super specialty block in the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, is nearing completion. According to officials, while 90 percent of the construction work has been completed, the block will be inaugurated only after another three months. This is because the medical equipment crucial for the operation theaters and other wings is yet to arrive at the hospital. The government sanctioned Rs 150 crore for the super specialty block in the premises of new GGH. The state government allocated Rs 30 crore while the Center’s share was Rs 120 crore. With the state government keen to inaugurate the block before the general elections, the contractor was directed to complete construction by the end of January. The contractor was mandated to hand over the completed building by October 2018. The work started in June, 2016 and the contractor was supposed to have completed the work on the 18,542 sq. mt. space in 16 months.

The block will have eight departments — cardiology, CTS, nephrology, urology, neurology, neurosurgery, gastroenterology, and pediatrics — with the latest medical equipment. It will house eight modular operation theaters, one for each department, two minor operation theatres, fully equipped labs and rooms for doctors. However, lack of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff is becoming a hurdle to the inauguration of the block, since appointment of the staff has not started till date. Siddhartha College principal R. Sashank, who is monitoring the works of the new block, said “Civil construction work is about 90 percent complete. The equipment is still to reach the hospital, till we get it, there is no chance of the block being inaugurated.”  Dr Shashank said that since the new block is part of the GGH, the existing staff will work in the new block. “Appointment of new staff later will be up to the government,” he said. Hospital development society member, Deevi Umamaheswara Rao said, “It will take at least three months as the medical equipment will have to be installed after it reaches the hospital.” – Deccan Chronicle