Mysuru: With the influx of patients at the Cheluvamba Hospital exceeding its capacity, steps are being taken to upgrade the hospital. An additional 20-bedded labour room and a ten-bedded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will be ready in couple of months.
Cheluvamba hospital stands first in most number of deliveries in South India. Every year at an average 17000 deliveries are reported at Cheluvamba hospital. The number of deliveries and outpatients are increasing every day and as per statistics nearly thousand pregnant women are treated at Cheluvamba hospital and on an average 45 to 50 deliveries are reported.
The increase in patients and shortage of infra structure has forced the patients, specifically the pregnant women and also new mothers to sleep on the floor. Unbelievable it seems today, but the hospital records show that the hospital handled only 12 to 15 deliveries a day about 30 years ago.
The doctors here too are over burdened with work. They say, a doctor can handle about 25 to 30 patients a day, but here at Cheluvamba, each doctor handles about 45 to 50 patients or even more on daily basis. Keeping all this in mind, the government decided to improve the infrastructure at the hospital. There is a proposal for increasing number of staff, including doctors, specialists and nursing staff.
Speaking to Newskarnataka Dr Radhamani, Superintendent of Cheluvamba Hospital said that the work for additional 20 bedded labour ward and 10 bedded NICU has started. The project has been taken up at a cost of Rs four cr and will be complete in a few months. To meet the present demand, the hospital requires another 50 bedded labour ward and 30 bedded NICU. Patients from neighboring districts including Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Kodagu come to Cheluvamba hospital for treatment. Cheluvamba hospital was constructed in 1880 to cater to the women and children.