VIJAYAWADA: There is no kid who is not scared of hospitals. Often, mothers are heard scaring their children with injections, when they don’t listen to them. Even parents find it difficult to convince their children to go to a hospital for a checkup or treatment. To tackle the issue, the management of the Old Government General Hospital in Vijayawada has given a facelift to an unused piece of land to make the paediatric ward more kid-friendly.
The management, along with the Inner Wheel Club of Vijayawada Midtown 302, has developed a park with play equipment, including a swing set and slide, for the children. The park has been set up at a cost of Rs 7 lakh.
With the support of club president Karambir Kaur, the members have established a play area that has a garden and a walking space. The play equipment in the park are made of plastic and not iron as it could get corroded and hurt the children.
“My three-year-old daughter, Sugeeta, has been suffering from a fever for the last one week. When we brought her here and she started playing in the park, it felt like she forgot that she was unwell. In the past, she used to be scared to go into a hospital,” S Satyavathi, a native of Penalumuru village, expressed and thanked the authorities and the club members for developing the park.
The children’s park is named after Margarette Golding, a nurse and founder of the Inner Wheel Club in Manchester.
Park at GGH becomes boon for kids
Mayor Rayana Bhagya Lakshmi and GGH superintendent B Sowbhagya Lakshmi inaugurated the park on November 22. Another parent from Vidyadharapuram, Sheikh Farhana said, “From the time we entered the hospital premises, my sister’s two-year-old son, Alandar, could not stop crying. He has a fever so we came for a checkup. As soon as he started playing in the park, he stopped crying.”’
GGH deputy superintendent Dr J Nageswara Rao said, “We established the park with the motive of increasing the number of outpatients at the hospital. Works for the play zone were taken up immediately after we proposed the idea to Karambir Kaur. A wasteland in front of the paediatric ward was used for the purpose. We have received a good response within a week.”
President of the Inner Wheel Club Karambir Kaur, said that after visiting the hospital she observed the premises and noted that the paintings had to be redone. “The wall on one side of the paediatric ward is broken and kids could be seen playing near bio-waste. After discussing with the administrative officer and the then deputy superintendent, we decided to convert the space into an entertainment park so kids could have a good time.”