Why no patient should ever go to Nims

HYDERABAD: The 15-suite Mettu Ranga Reddy Private Room facility at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) could be meant for patients who can afford to pay a daily room tariff of Rs 2,500 (a big amount for a government-run facility) but VIPs rule the roost here. The hospital authorities proudly claim that this facility is “strictly for politicians” and other VIPs. Ironically, its occupancy rate is less than 50 per cent even while there is a long list of patients waiting for these rooms at any given time.

So it was not surprising when three patients recuperating in these VIP rooms were shunted out when TDP president Chandrababu Naidu was admitted on Monday morning. The three patients were moved to the other `non-VIP’ rooms in the hospital’s Millennium Block.

“These VIP suites contribute to the hospital revenue and the hospital is forever fund-strapped to buy even basic equipment. We wonder how can it afford this luxury of devoting a fleet of 15 VIP suites to one patient,” asked a senior doctor. All the 15 rooms in this VIP section of the hospital are currently being used by Naidu’s family, staff, security and the doctors attending on him.

Sources said that after Naidu was shifted, the number of admissions has dipped by 20 per cent and the patient flow at the out-patient departments has also reduced by a significant 40 per cent. “The hospital is losing a revenue of Rs one lakh daily only from the out-patient department. Even though Nims does medical investigations at a lesser rate, patients are getting them done outside. Patients are afraid to come to Nims for all the trouble they are being put through because of the VIP inside,” says a doctor.

Incidentally, the hospital was still grappling with the impact of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao’s stay at the hospital during December 2009 which not just led to massive revenue losses to the tune of several crores but also cost Nims its image. “The hospital is yet to recover from the losses incurred during KCR’s admission. Naidu’s admission has only added to it. Two months ago Naidu got all his medical investigations done at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology. While they get themselves treated at corporate hospitals, for such political activities, they come here,” says a doctor adding that a hospital of this stature should not be made the centre stage for such political activities.

These VIP suites were constructed in the 1960s when the hospital was set up. The facility was renovated about three years ago and named after Dr Mettu Ranga Reddy, a prominent orthopaedic surgeon, who was the first medical superintendent of Nims Orthopaedic Hospital, as it was called when it started operation in 1964.

Presently, the hospital has 985 beds out of which 117 are in private rooms. The average number of out-patients visiting the hospital per month is about 32,000 and the number of in-patients admitted per month is about 2,600, as per 2008 statistics.

Ever since Naidu’s admission, the numbers have come down and senior doctors are now idle most of the time. “The state government appears to be making a mockery of the hospital’s precious resources. As it is, several patients are leaving the hospital due to absence of equipment,” says a senior doctor at the hospital. Doctors say that the political environment at Nims has led to patients drifting to other private hospitals, costing Nims precious revenue.