BENGALURU: Four years since Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana Super Specialty Hospital (PMSSY) was inaugurated, the hospital’s bed occupancy rate has hovered between 55 per cent and 68 per cent in the past six months. Built at a cost of Rs. 100 crore, this is the only government super-specialty hospital in the city.
Two years ago, a CAG report had slammed the state government for not popularising the hospital. Though it is the only government hospital in the city that offers services in six specialties — anaesthsiology, cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, plastic surgery and surgical gastroenterology — it does not get enough patients.
Talking to Express, Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister of Medical Education, said, “I found there was only 60 per cent bed occupancy rate. Though other departments are doing well, the cardiology department has very few surgeries. This may be because Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, also a government-run hospital, is better known and not many know of cardiologists of PMSSY. We need to create more awareness about the hospital.”
The hospital has state-of-the-art equipment and caters to patients from all backgrounds, ensuring high quality care at affordable or no charges. Patients covered under health insurance schemes like Vajpayee Arogyashree, Yeshaswini, Rashtra Swasthya Bhima Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojane, Suvarna Arogya Chaithanye Yojane and central government health scheme are also treated at the hospital. Well-off patients also vouch for it. It was also communicated to district hospitals to refer their patients to PMSSY.
Dr P G Girish, PMSSY head and head of cardiology department at PMSSY, said that there are only three doctors in the department including himself, and he was stretched between serving at Victoria and Bowring Hospitals, and teaching.
“I see 40-50 patients at Bowring Hospital. There are at least 150 out patients at PMSSY. No other head of the hospital does night duty. Previously, our cath lab wasn’t functional but now it is. We have been performing enough heart surgeries per day and the bed occupancy rate is improving. When the CAG team had visited, the hospital wasn’t fully functional. We have written to district and taluk hospitals to refer their patients here,” said Dr Girish.