New Delhi , July 17: Union Health Minister J P Nadda today made a surprise visit to Safdarjung Hospital to review its preparedness to deal with any dengue outbreak situation and instructed officials to ensure cleanliness and availability of platelets for patients of the dreaded disease.
The minister who had recently made a similar visit to RML Hospital instructed the Safdarjung Hospital administration to solve accommodation issues of senior resident doctors as well.
“During the visit he reviewed the preparedness regarding dengue and instructed the officials to ensure enough availability of platelets for dengue patients,” an official statement said.
Sources said that the minister was not impressed with the arrangements and facilities for treating dengue cases and directed senior doctors to increase the number of beds for such patients.
He inspected various units like the blood bank and transfusion unit, department of burns and plastic maxillofacial surgery centre, dengue ward and the waste management centre.
Nadda said that his ministry is looking at giving more powers to the hospital administration through Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) so that the hospital can be run in a better manner.
“The Health Minister also instructed hospital administration to solve accommodation issues of senior resident doctors after his interaction with the latter,” the statement said.
Sources said, this comes after some resident doctors had met him and urged him to look into their problems.
The minister met representatives from some prominent NGOs in the health sector and invited them to participate in ‘Kayakalp’, an initiative of the Health Ministry to encourage public health facilities to work towards standards of excellence to help keep the facilities clean and hygienic.
He also invited the NGOs to adopt a ward, area section or any part of the activities of the hospital to supplement government efforts. He expressed happiness over the waste management system of the hospital.
Safdarjung Medical Superintendent Rajkumar also briefed the minister regarding recent initiatives taken by the hospital and its future expansion plans.
Nadda had made a visit to RML Hospital on July 10 to check preparedness of the hospital for dealing with dengue outbreak situation and had also instructed officials there to ensure availability of platelets and cleanliness in the premises.