Health crisis in Telangana: Staff crunch leaves 22 new hospitals non-functional

Pointing out a severe shortage of staff across 25 newly constructed hospitals in the state, the Forum for Good Governance (FGG) on Friday urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to order the appointment of 1,302 Doctors and supporting staff to make these hospitals functional.

The FGG President M Padmanabha Reddy said that the Telangana government had taken up construction of 25 hospitals in different places in the state about three years back to improve health facilities. As per the norms for these 25 hospitals, there should be 1,413 Doctors and supporting staff.

Against this requirement, only 111 Doctors and staff were presently positioned. Moreover, out of the 25 hospitals, only three have skeletal staff, and for the remaining 22 hospitals, no recruitment has been taken up. The FGG President said that at Gajwel, not a single post was filled against the requirement of 101 Doctors and staff. Likewise, at Kodangal, not a single post was filled against the 60 required numbers, and at Achampet, no one was recruited against the 101 posts required.

The Commissioner of the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (TVVP) states that the hospitals were functioning with a few deputations from other places. Padmanabha Reddy, however, noted that in many cases the deputed Doctors and nurses were rarely attending the hospital. Due to the non-functioning of the hospitals, the buildings are getting damaged and misused, the President warned.