The sight is as incongruous as it can get. In Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, one of the poorest districts in all of India, this hospital will put most private hospitals of metropolitan cities to shame.
A recent Tweet by Gadchiroli District Collector Mr Deepak Singla said it all: “Is this a Private hospital ICU? No, this is an ICU recently renovated with State-of-the-art modern facilities in LWE aspirational district Gadchiroli to give best care to citizens in govt hospital. Many more facilities are on the way.”, tweeted
After all, Mr. Singla himself is largely responsible for making this unique initiative and transforming the government hospital with all the modern facilities.
For many reasons, Government hospitals have been highly criticized due to inadequate facilities, crumbling infrastructure, and multiple challenges which patients face here. Addressing the issues faced by the public, the initiative was taken in a district which did not have any private hospital.
Gadchiroli is also designated under the Red Corridor due to high Maoist-Naxal insurgency in the district. It has one district hospital, a women’s hospital, 12 other rural hospitals in various Taluks and around 47 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs). Mr. Deepak Singla took this initiative to provide better facilities to the people, which they witnessed before.
PROVIDING TOP FACILITIES
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Singla said “We wanted to change the set mindset of people towards a government hospital. As there are no other private hospitals in the district, we wanted to provide them with facilities which are mostly seen in private hospitals. Hence, we planned to renovate the ICU in the initial stage for which we hired a good contractor from Nagpur.”
A tender was issued, the contractor selected and the process of renovating the ICU took about five to six months to complete. Mr. Singla said, “Gadchiroli being a Naxalite prone area, people from other areas don’t prefer to work in the district. However, after he took the tender, the contractor started and completed the work without any problem. He showed a lot of effort by coming down from Nagpur and working in the Covid 19 time as well.”
The administration has now planned to take the renovation drive to other departments of the hospital as well, such as casualty ward, dental unit and physiotherapy ward.
INSTALLING MODULAR OPERATING THEATRE
Mr. Singla also spoke about the developmental initiatives taken by the administration in other hospitals of the district. He said, “Apart from the renovation drive in the district hospital, we are also installing modular operating theatres in all the 12 rural hospitals in the district. This will not only help in carrying out smooth operations but will also prevent in catching various infections. The same facility will also be provided to the women hospital.”
The main aim of taking such an initiative is to improve the basic sanitation of the hospital, as it is indeed a major requirement for the general public. And after the Covid pandemic, developing the health infrastructure has also become a major priority for every district in the country. The district administration of Gadchiroli is not only improving the health infrastructure by renovating government hospitals with modular facilities but, under the leadership of Mr. Singla, it also stood out as the best performing district in Maharashtra during the Covid pandemic.
