Poor patients move to BR Shetty owned hospital after govt shuts 80-yr-old hospital

Udupi, Sep 26: After the state government decided to shut down District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital, which had served the common people in region for over eight decades, all its inpatients and outpatients are being referred to the newly constructed 200-bed Koosamma Shambhu Shetty Memorial Haji Abdullah Mother and Child (KSSMHAMC) Hospital here.

The State government had, in August 2016, allowed the BRS Health and Research Institute, owned by B.R. Shetty, an NRI businessman hailing from Udupi, to construct a 200-bed maternity and children’s hospital, a 400-bed super-specialty hospital, and an urban community health centre, under public-private partnership mode.

These two hospitals and the health centre were to come up on the four acres of land in the heart of the city, where the 70-bed Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital was located. The 200-bed hospital has been constructed and is operational.

The government hospital which built on a land donated in 1930 by late Haji Abdullah, the greatest philanthropist of coastal Karnataka, was a blessing for the poor, who could not afford healthcare facilities from private hospitals in the region over 80 years ago. The hospital also catered to the needs of the patients from neighbouring districts as well.

There were 31 employees, including six doctors in the government hospital. The government has currently deputed four specialist doctors to the B R Shetty owned hospital as a temporary arrangement. The remaining employees and two doctors are waiting for the government order to continue their service.

District Surgeon Madhusudhan Nayak said that the inpatients and outpatients of the old hospital were told to receive treatment at KSSMHAMC from Tuesday as per the State government’s orders. The patients will continue to receive treatment free at KSSMHAMC Hospital.

Some equipment from the closed hospital had been shifted to the Government Hospital at Kolhar in Vijayapura district. The remaining equipment would be moved to the District Government Hospital here, and other government hospitals in the district, where they were was required, he said.

“We have urged the State government to shift the other 27 staff members working at the government hospital to the District Government Hospital at Ajjarkad here as we are suffering from staff shortage,” Dr. Nayak said.

A five-member committee under the Deputy Commissioner of Udupi district as chairman would be monitoring the working of the KSSMHAMC Hospital, which will run on public-private partnership mode. The KSSMHAMC Hospital has its own staff in place, he said.