VIJAYAWADA: The 200-bed super-specialty hospital in Palasa will be inaugurated by March 2023, Minister for Health, Medical and Family Welfare Vidadala Rajini said on Wednesday. She asserted that 70 per cent of the works at the hospital being established with Rs 50 crore have been completed.
Stating that the people of Uddanam have been suffering from kidney-related issues for the past 75 years, Rajini said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the stone for the super-specialty hospital cum kidney research centre on September 6, 2019. But the construction works were delayed due to the Covid pandemic.
The minister said 80 per cent works at the Rs700 crore potable water plant, launched by Jagan in August 2020, were completed and added that it will be inaugurated in March 2023.Pointing out that the government has identified people suffering from kidney ailments in seven mandals of Uddanam, Rajini said patients on dialysis were receiving financial aid of Rs 10,000, while those in the third and fourth stage were getting Rs 5,000 pension.
Elaborating, the minister said, “We have provided 142 RO plants at seven mandals in Uddanam and 17 labs to conduct medical tests, where 1,25,506 screening tests have been done so far. Of the total, treatment has been provided to 21,868 people and dialysis for 791 patients. A total of 65 dialysis centres have been established in Kaviti, Sompet, Palasa, Tekkali, and Haripuram government hospitals. The government is taking measures to identify the cause for the kidney issues in the region at the preliminary stage itself to address it.”
She explained that the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with George Institute for Global Health, Technology Education and Research Institute (TERI) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to jointly conduct research and identify the cause for kidney problems in Uddanam.
Stating that the research by the three institutes is in the final stage, the minister said, “Srikakulam district collector has ordered the district medical and health officials to observe ground realities for the death of people suffering from kidney ailments.”
Meanwhile, Animal Husbandry Minister Seediri Appalaraju said TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu gave Rs 2,500 as pension, but YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been extending `10,000 aid to the dialysis patients in the region.
He said, “During Naidu’s tenure, dialysis centres were available only at Kaviti, Sompet, Palasa and Tekkali in three constituencies. As a result, nearly 480 patients would go to Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam regularly for dialysis. However, after the YSRC formed government, five more dialysis beds in Kaviti, eight in Sompet, 10 in Haripuram, five in Palasa and one unit in Srikakulam were sanctioned. Now, only 31 patients get dialysis treatment outside.”