Rangareddy: Unlike city, RR dist lags in tertiary hospitals

Rangareddy : With the opening of a new Urban Primary Health Centre(UPHC) recently at Balamrai in the city, the total number of such facilities run by the State government rose to 90 in the Hyderabad district while the neighbouring Rangareddy district has only 25 such facilities.

Although the authorities in Hyderabad say that they are planning a few more inaugurations soon as part of a total revamp in the public healthcare system in the district, the officials in Rangareddy district asserted that no new facilities are planned yet in the district.

With over a crore population in Hyderabad and over 34 lakhs in Rangareddy, there are a growing number of patients suffering from different kinds of chronic diseases and the demand for setting up of tertiary healthcare facilities in every ward gained prominence in recent years.

There is an element of plausibility in a demand for setting up such tertiary care facilities in both districts as children as young as 10 years are found suffering from kidney, heart and liver-related health complications.

"I have to take my brother for dialysis thrice a week. We have no other option but to approach NIMS at first and other government-run hospitals later if we don't get the slot. We have not found any such direly essential facility anywhere in the Rajendranagar area on the national highway 44," rued Mahender, a resident of Shivrampally.

As per the official record, atleast 85 UPHCs exist in different GHMC wards within the Hyderabad limits while five of them are in the Secunderabad cantonment area. In a list of 84 wards, Musheerabad tops the list with six UPHCs while Doodhbowli ward stood second with five such facilities followed by Amberpet, Gosha Mahal, Himayathnagar, Ramgopalpet and Shalibanda with four each.

Asif Nagar, Banjara Hills, Bansilalpet, Begumpet, Chawani, Goulipura, Ganfoundry, IS Sadan, Rahmat Nagar, Sanathnagar, Sithaphalmndi and Yousufguda got three each. Similarly, Addagutta, Bholakpur, Borabanda, Chandrayangutta, Dabeerpura, Erragadda, Falaknuma, Gandhi Nagar, Jambagh, Jubilee Hills, Karwan, Kavadiguda, Khairatabad, Kishanbagh, Kurmaguda, Lalithabagh, Mallepally, Mettuguda, Moghalpura, Moondamarket, Puranapool, Ramnagar, Ramnasthpura, Saidabad, Shaikpet, Talab Chinchalam, Tarnaka, Tolichowki, Uppuguda and Ziaguda have two each.

However, the remaining wards have one or two UPHCs that include Adikmet, Ahmed Nagar, Akberbagh, Ameerpet, Bagh Amberpet, Begum Bazar, Boudhnagar, Dattatreya Nagar, Ghansi Bazar, Golkonda, Golnaka, Gudimalkapur, Jahanuma, Jangammet, Kachiguda, Kanchanbagh, Langar House, Mangalhat, Mehdipatnam, Nallakunta, Nanalnagar, Nawab Saheb Kunta, Old Malkpet, Pathergatti, Rain Bazar, Riyasath Nagar, Santosh Nagar, Somajiguda, Vengal Rao Nagar, Venkateshwara Colony and Vijay Nagar Colony ward.

“Hyderabad now has 90 UPHCs. In addition to providing Out Patient (OP) services for seasonal illnesses, UPHCs also conduct prenatal and antenatal screenings for pregnant women and provide first-hand screening to patients suffering from chronic illnesses”, informed Dr J Venkati, the District Medical and Health Officer, Hyderabad.

To avoid inconvenience to the people at these UPHCs, he said, a sufficient number of staff too was deployed at these centres that included one medical officer, pharmacist, two staff nurses, a lab technician and an attendant besides a public health nurse, a few ANMs and atleast 20 Asha workers each.

Apart from this, he said, telemedicine services are also provided to refer the patients’ cases to Osmania, Gandhi, NIMS and AIMS to ensure timely treatment to the patients. Besides, Immunisation programmes are being held once a week to arrest the spread of infections like measles among children. “People should make best use of these healthcare facilities in their own areas where everything from sufficient stock of medicines to timely treatment is available with 57 types of lab tests within 24 hours,” maintained the official.

Rangareddy has 64 public health facilities that include 25 UPHCs, 28 Primary Health Centres (PHCs), one district hospital, one area hospital and nine Community Health Centres (CHCs) to serve the local population, according to official statistics.