HYDERABAD: Lending a fillip to Telangana’s medical and health services, Minister for Health Eatala Rajender inaugurated a Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU), in addition to a swine flu isolation ward, at the State’s Chest Hospital in Erragadda. This is the hospital’s first intensive care unit.
The Chest Hospital caters to nearly 400 patients every day. With the eight-bedded RICU and 10-bedded isolation ward, the State will be better equipped this winter season to tackle swine flu, COPD, asthma and TB, which are on the rise due to pollution and climate change.
The RICU ensures that patients get access to emergency services, like ventilators and nebulisers, on the hospital premises itself.
Speaking after inaugurating the units and addressing pulmonologists from various government hospitals, who were undergoing training in the Chest Hospital, the minister said that the idea was to make Telangana one of the most sought-after health care providers in the entirety of South India. “Medical practitioners have to be on their toes all through the year. Our aim is to detect diseases early, identify where the problem is and rectify it on time. The focus should be not just on rural poverty but also urban poverty. I urge practitioners to keep this in mind and ensure that all diseases are controlled.”
He further said that they intended to set up pathological labs and diagnostics centres to ensure that all health care services are provided in a single place. Meanwhile, the officials of the hospital expressed the need for increasing the bed capacity to 600, in view of increasing cases of respiratory illnesses.
New academic block in Mental Hospital
In an attempt to increase the number of mental health practitioners in the State, a new academic block was inaugurated at the Mental Hospital in Erragadda by Minister for Health Eatala Rajender.According to officials at the hospital, the government intends to introduce 6-12 seats in the hospital that offer specialisation in psychiatry and clinical psychology. The new block would provide MD and M-Phil courses for aspirants.