Facilities at Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital lie unused

​Hyderabad: The Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital (SDEH) has been in the eye of the storm for the last fortnight bringing the focus on the primary hospital for eye treatment. Questions are being raised on its usefulness. The 500-bedded hospital spread over 13 acres has just about 100 in-patients at any given point of time making medical professionals question its relevance.

Dr A Ravindra, Telangana Ophthalmological Society says, “In most eye hospitals, patients are discharged within a day and it is in very rare cases that they are hospitalised. More departments can be added to the SDEH so that optimum utilisation of the buildings can be made.”

The hospital initially had ENT section but was later separated. Dr M C Mathur, ophthalmologist, Swarup Eye Centre says, “Sarojini Eye Hospital has been serving poor patients for eons but there is scope to add more departments.”

Medical staff of the hospital says that it would make sense to have ENT at one place so that more patients could be taken care. As medical experts point out,one of the reasons why other departments need to be added to Sarojini is the quick redressal of treatment to eye problems. In ninety per cent of the cases the treatment gets over in two-three days. A case in point is the amount allocated under Aarogyasri. Dr Ravindra says, “It is Rs 28,000 for eye surgeries under Aarogyasri.”

Initially for a private eye hospital to get empanelled under Aarogyasri, the minimum requirement was 55 bedded hospital but after representations by doctors it was reduced to 25 bedded hospital.”
Doctors argue that if SDEH is to be used to its optimum potential, more departments need to be added and existing infrastructure revamped.

In case of corporate hospitals many do not have an eye department for the simple reason that it does not bring in the money. As a result, there are exclusive eye hospitals mushrooming in the city. According to rough estimates about a dozen eight eye hospitals were opened in the last one year.

The Sarojini Eye hospital in spite of being in the red has been serving the poorest of the poor sections for decades but unless the infrastructure is upgraded and staff increased, it would not regain its lost stature.

Sporadic cases of negligence keep cropping up at the hospital due to improper and sub-standard equipment. The case of a 2-year-old girl, Nasreen Banu, whose healthy eye was removed way back in 1980 is still fresh in old timers’ minds. Good infrastructure, adequate staff and standard procedures only can resurrect the hospital from a blind fold.

By: T P Venu