The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has opposed the GO 57 issued by the State government recently making it mandatory for hospitals in the State to install captive oxygen plants and keep sufficient oxygen cylinders.
The government stated that the hospital registration would be cancelled if the instructions in the GO were not followed.
The Andhra Pradesh Private Nursing Homes and Hospitals Association (APNA), Andhra Pradesh Speciality Hospitals Association (ASHA), and the Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association of Andhra Pradesh (ANHAAP) have extended their support and solidarity with the IMA in this regard.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, IMA president-elect C. Srinivas Raju said the GO was “unnecessary, illogical and impractical”. The IMA was bewildered with the GO. The government had taken an arbitrary decision without taking major stakeholders such as private doctors and private hospitals represented by the IMA, APNA, ASHA and (ANHAAP). The government should call a State-level advisory committee to meet and take necessary decisions, he said.
ANHAAP president B.Narendra Reddy expressed the view that the government should have brought only COVID hospitals under the purview of the GO 57. Instead, all private hospitals were asked to install PSA oxygen plants or maintain liquid medical oxygen (LMO) tanks. It would be burdensome for the hospitals.
Ninety percent of the hospitals in the State were single doctor-run hospitals or family physician hospitals. Such hospitals would face a problem if the burden of creating infrastructure were to be taken into consideration, he said.
The government was requested to save the family physician concept by exempting such hospitals. The government announced that all hospitals with less than 100 beds would be exempted from installing PSA plants. The government was requested to give some more time to the hospitals with more than 100 beds capacity, he said.
APNA general secretary P. Srinivas, IMA general secretary G. Nanda Kishore and finance secretary M. Subhash Chandra Bose spoke.
