GGH is equipped for 300 COVID patients as 10,000 need to be treated in the district
The lack of a state medical college is clearly felt in the Vizianagaram district, where many COVID-19 patients are in urgent need of medical care.
Successive governments have taken no steps to establish a medical college in the district. COVID patients, now bearing the brunt of decades of government apathy, must travel to Visakhapatnam for treatment.
The existing Government General Hospital can only accept 300 COVID-19 patients as over 10,000 people who test positive for COVID-19 await treatment in the district.
Senior BJP leader Pakalapati Sanyasi Raju said the party has been calling for a medical college to be set up for two decades. “The improvement of the medical infrastructure should be a top priority for the state government. A sum of 500 crore would be sufficient for its establishment. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government should speed up the process as the center has also relaxed the norms for setting up new medical colleges in backward regions, ”he said.
Lok Satta Party’s executive president Bhisetti Babji said the state government had promised to set up a medical college but failed to find a suitable place to do it last year.
“At least 1,000 beds would have been available for COVID patients if the medical college had been set up in 2020 itself. Mere declarations and the sanctioning of money on paper would in no way benefit the district. The state government should show its commitment by taking war-based steps to build the new college, ”he said.
Former Parvatipuram MP DVG Sankara Rao, a doctor by profession, said improving medical infrastructure would ensure access to good medical care equivalent to what hospitals in Visakhapatnam offer.
“In addition to treating patients, senior doctors and professors can concentrate on research. You can exchange ideas and take case studies in situations like COVID-19, ”said Dr. Sankara Rao.
Currently, Vizianagaram only has one private medical college – the Maharaja Institute of Medical Science – in Nellimarla. The Minister of City Council Botcha Satyanarayana and other public officials inspected various locations next to the government hospital, the police station and the leprosy hospital.
The page has yet to be completed
However, the site for the planned state medical college has not yet been completed for various reasons.
Local officials are expected to focus on selection after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the district subsides.