The Hindu : Integrated dispensary planned in Secretariat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Integrated dispensary planned in Secretariat

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD May 2. A yoga centre and a naturopathy clinic are proposed to be set up in the Secretariat as part of an effort to improve health facilities for employees working there.

This was announced by the Health Minister, Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, after making a surprise inspection of the unani, homeopathy and allopathy dispensaries and various canteens in the Secretariat on Friday.

He told reporters that an integrated dispensary offering treatment in different systems of medicine would be established by bringing all the existing clinics under one roof.

Dr. Siva Prasada Rao said that over 200 Secretariat employees were treated daily at these clinics which were located at three different places on the campus. By shifting all of them to one place, the patients could go in for a combination of systems if doctors so advised.

Earlier, the Minister visited the unani dispensary and was apparently dissatisfied with the inadequate facilities for seating and examining the patients. At the homeo clinic too, he expressed annoyance at the lack of a couch.

He instructed Medical Officer in-charge, A. L. Meera Devi, to refer chronic cases to the homeo college for further treatment and not to hesitate in purchasing expensive medicines whenever necessary for Secretariat employees.At all the three dispensaries he visited, the Minister asked the doctors on duty to maintain data regarding the diseases suffered by the employees as it would provide a correct profile of their ailments such as diabetes, blood pressure or other stress-related problems.

Dr. Siva Prasada Rao spent nearly 45 minutes making a detailed inspection of the three canteens run by Tharuni, the Secretariat employees' cooperative body and Fesey. He pulled up the managements when he noticed cobwebs hanging from the roofs and uncovered food items.

In respect of the cooperative canteen, he had a sample of flour sent to the laboratory for a thorough analysis of its quality.

Answering a question about the controversy surrounding the alleged exchange of babies at the Government Maternity Hospital at Nayapul here, the Minister said no such mix-up had occurred and the problem had arisen because a nurse tied the wrong tag of `male' on the wrist of a female baby.

He said samples taken from the mother and baby had sent for DNA testing whose results were expected soon. Moreover, ultra-sound tests done on the mother, Lata, were available which would reveal the truth. No action was being contemplated against the nurse, he added.

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