KHAMMAM: Matha Sishu Kendram (MSK) at Khammam District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) has acquired notoriety for its unsanitary conditions, with new mothers and their babies facing a major risk of infections.
The MSK is heavily crowded on any given day, as it caters to pregnant women of not only Khammam district, but also the adjacent Mahabubabad, Suryapet and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts.
It is such overcrowding of patients that prompted state government to upgrade Khammam DHH to a 520-bed hospital. However, Matha Sishu Kendram is continuing with only 150 beds, though district officials have sent proposals to state government for increasing the bed strength to 250.
The number of inpatient women at MSK is often more than the available bed capacity. Near 25–30 babies are born every day at this kendram. Doctors try and discharge women as early as possible after their delivery. There is always pressure to provide beds to new mothers who have just delivered their babies.
With all the heavy rush, there is always demand for the fewer toilets available at the Matha Sishu Kendram. Says Konda Uma, resident of Danthapalli, who gave birth to twins: “Sanitation is a big issue at the kendram. Washrooms and toilets are the worst. MSK is a good place for normal deliveries. Government should solve the sanitation problem immediately,” she said.
Another issue is that most attendants coming with the pregnant women or attending on new mothers have no place even to sit. As a result, they too have to occupy the bed.
As far as out-patients are concerned, about 1.80 lakh pregnant women have been checked up at the MSK from 2020 to 2022 so far. The kendram helped deliver 38,158 babies in 2020, 42,243 in 2021 and 30,159 so far in 2022.
Allika Mounika, a pregnant woman from Venkatagiri in Khammam Urban mandal said, “I am afraid of contracting new diseases, as I am compelled to use the dirty washrooms. There is no place for my mother, who has come as my attendant, to even sit.”
Hospital superintendent B. Venkateswarlu clarified that they have sent proposals for up-gradation of the Khammam Matha Sishu Kendram.
