HYDERABAD: At a time when the rising cost of availing healthcare is affecting people across the globe, a gas agency owner has started the Gangaiah Gari Charity Hospital (GGCH) in Ram Nagar where patients have to shell out only Rs 1 as fee for consultation.As many as 1,500 to 2,000 patients enjoy the benefits of the outpatient service daily, but not even one of them have to pay more than Rs 1.
Explaining his motive, Gangadhar Gupta, the chairman of the hospital, tells The New Indian Express that he felt compelled to serve humankind in February and started the hospital with his money. However, he believes that the real stories are of the people who have been helped by his initiative.
For domestic worker Lakshmi, who was accompanying her two-year-old grandson Babu, who had been suffering from fever for the past two days, the hospital has come as a godsent. “My son heard about this establishment through Google. We used to spend hundreds of rupees in private hospitals without any visible results. However, Babu feels better just with the first dose of medicine prescribed by the doctors here,” she says.
All the medicines being sold at the hospital is available at 50 per cent discount in the pharmacy. Even blood, urine and other tests conducted at the hospital’s laboratories cost half of what is charged by other private hospitals in the city.
Aahar and Aarogya
The four floors of the hospital house the ENT, orthopaedics, dermatology, gynaecology and physiotherapy departments among others. A team of 18 doctors, 30 nurses and 100-plus staff work in shifts. “A distant relative told us about this hospital,” said Kausar Ali, 26, who is from Nalgonda district. She was accompanying her husband, who had been visiting to consult a urologist.
They had first gone to a private hospital in Nalgonda, but after failing to see any improvements, a distant relative of theirs told them about GGCH.Understanding that seeking medical care means that low-wage earning labourers often have to give a visit to the hospital a miss, Gangadhar decided to provide two meals to patients, their relatives and all other visitors.
“Aahar and Aarogya (food and health) are two very important things. Before a patient enters the hospital, their BP and sugar level should be normal. Only then can patients be diagnosed well,” says Gangadhar. “We are waiting to get permission to start an in-patient department as well,” he adds.