Visakhapatnam: Though the state government had announced several initiatives at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (Vims), nothing has been materialised till now. Since past two years of its existence, the hospital is yet to received funds from the budget. The hospital requires around Rs 25 crore from the state government to recruit permanent doctors and staff nurses. All the existing employees are on deputation basis. Apart from this, it also needs to hire more house-keeping and security staff. Currently, the management meets the regular expenses through internal revenues.
According to the Vims, around 110-120 in-patients join each day and 750-800 out-patients visit a day for the treatment. Last year, it has submitted an expenditure plan of '2 crore per month. It plans to provide latest equipment and state-of-the-art facilities at its ICUs to enable round-the-clock surgeries in the hospital. Earlier, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had sanctioned '200 crore for developing the Vims as a super-speciality hospital. It was also proposed to convert as an autonomous teaching hospital for medical research. However, all the decisions are standstill due to lack of a health minister in the state Cabinet. In 2018-19 AP budget, the government has proposed '8,463 crore for the healthcare sector that gave huge expectations to the hospital.
On the day of announcement, state health minister Kamineni Srinivas submitted his resignation, and the finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu was made in-charge. “We can’t expect any financial allocations to the hospital during this month. The state government may reshuffle the health ministry after April first week. The hospital is likely to get some clarity on funds in May or June,” said Vims director Dr K. Satya Varaprasad. When asked about the autonomous status to Vims as a premier healthcare institute, he said: “There may be some progress in state healthcare sector only after the appointment of new health minister. This decision should be approved by the state Cabinet.”
