Nashik: Sinnar rural hospital ready, sans medical equipment

Nashik: The completed building of the rural hospital in Sinnar is awaiting the needed equipment and furniture to get operational. For more than six months now, the building has been lying empty and is in dire need of equipment and manpower.

The 30-bed hospital will be a relief for residents of Sinnar who have been demanding a local medical set up for the past many years. As of now, Sinnar residents have to rely on the municipal council hospital which was set up seven decades back.

With the rise in residential areas, accidents on the Nashik-Pune road, Sinnar-Shirdi road and Sinnar-Ghoti road have increased significantly over the past few years. Patients have to be rushed to Nashik civil hospital for treatment. At imes, the ambulances shifting the accident patients have to cover a distance of 40 to 50 kms to reach Nashik which only results into loss of time in providing timely treatment.

A senior officer of the Nashik civil hospital said that they were following up the issue of making furniture and the medical equipment available.

The 30-bed rural hospital is proposed to have an operation theatre, a digital X-ray machine, a set-up for dentistry department, labour room, cots and other regular machinery that are required. Going by senior officials of the health department, the machinery and infrastructure of the hospital will cost around Rs 1.5 crore.

Senior medical officers of the district said that the hospital will turn out to be boon for a large number of patients. “Accidents are a routine on the Pune highway between Sinnar and Sangamner, the Sinnar-Shirdi road and the Sinnar-Ghoti road. A large number of Saibaba devotees are found walking towards Shirdi in big groups on these roads. There have been incidents in the past in which motorists have even knocked down the walking Saibaba devotees.”

The officer added that apart from providing treatment to accident victims, the hospital will also cater to complicated pregnancy cases. Citizens of Sinnar taluka have to rush to Nashik in the event of a complicated pregnancy case in their family. Once the rural hospital gets operational, the gynaecologist can take up caesarean surgeries if the need arises.