• Of the 100 beds, 70 to be oxygenated; admission only through District War Room 
• Trial runs for 50 beds begin; facility to open for patients from next week

Mysore/Mysuru: A 72-year-old maternity hospital — Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Hospital on JLB Road — has paved way for a high-tech 100-bed designated COVID Health Centre in city and the facility was inaugurated this morning. Local residents and old-timers call this Hospital as ‘Hallada Aaspatre’ as it was located in a steep ditch (‘halla’ in Kannada). 

The Hospital has been readied and operationalised by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), District Administration (Health Department) along with Cauvery Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital. 

It was built with Rs. 20 crore Central grants to care for pregnant women and neo-natal mothers and their babies and ease the burden of the overcrowded Cheluvamba Hospital. It has been now converted as COVID Health Centre, thanks to the spiralling Coronavirus cases in Mysuru and the pressing need for providing medical care to patients within the existing infrastructure. 

Of the 100 beds, 70 beds are oxygenated beds. Trial runs have started for 50 beds yesterday and today and the remaining 50 beds would be operationalised by next week, turning the setup fully operational. As of now, patients would not be admitted and they will be allowed from next week. Of the 100 beds, 50 are in the ground floor and 50 in the first floor. 

Ten oxygenated beds with ICU ventilators will start functioning from next week. Six doctors have been appointed and there are 40 nursing staff, who will work in round-the-clock shifts and among the doctors one is ICU Intensivist, one is a Pulmonologist and one is a General Physician. All the doctors are from the Cauvery Hospital. 

Admission as per War Room directive

All COVID-positive patients will not be straight-away admitted to this Hospital and patients would be admitted based on the orders and requirement of the District War Room. Patients are required to mandatorily possess COVID-positive report, SIRF ID and Aadhaar cards while getting admitted. Patients who have breathing difficulties will be treated here and 10 ICU ventilator beds will be reserved for COVID Warriors. 

Preference would be given to COVID warriors, COVID-positive pregnant ladies and also children. Six Dura cylinders of 200 litres of Liquid Medical Oxygen would be supplied and refilled here. In-house accommodation will be provided to doctors and nurses and the Hospital has been divided into ‘Red Zone’ (infected patients) and Green Zone (medicine, supplies and nursing equipment). Entry to and fro Red and Green Zone will mandatorily be with PPE kits. 

Dr. H.S. Bhargav and Dr Somashekar of Cauvery Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital are leading the initiatives at the new Hospital and MUDA has already spent Rs. 30,000 to equip the Hospital. MUDA will pay 50 percent of the salaries of doctors and nursing staff and the rest will be borne by Cauvery Hospital. All the oxygen requirements will be funded by MUDA, MUDA Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh told Star of Mysore.

Opened in 1949

The 30-bed Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Maternity Hospital was inaugurated on July 9, 1949 by the then Maharaja of Mysore Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. The Hospital completed 69 years in 2018 and now it has completed 72 years. As the structure was dilapidated, people used to visit the Hospital very rarely after 2010. 

Now the new Hospital has been built from the funds sanctioned by the Central Government under National Health Mission. This project was envisaged in 2012 when the current Krishnaraja MLA S.A. Ramdas was the District in-Charge and Medical Education Minister. He had approached the Centre with a proposal to demolish the existing structure and construct a new hospital. Later, the 100-bed Hospital was constructed at a cost of Rs. 20 crore. 

Recognising the contribution of MLA Ramdas, District Minister S.T. Somashekar asked him to inaugurate the Hospital. MLAs G.T. Devegowda, Tanveer Sait and L. Nagendra, Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri, Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag, MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev, members Lakshmidevi, Madesh and others were present. 

Who is Seth Mohandas Tulsidas?

How the hospital came to be known as Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Maternity Hospital? One noble-intended Tulsidas wanted to build a maternity hospital for people of Mysuru and surrounding villages in post-Independent India. He had vast tracks of land and he had donated 5.17 acres of land near JLB Road. The hospital was constructed and named Seth Mohandas Tulsidas Maternity Hospital and the facility was inaugurated by Jayachamaraja Wadiyar in 1949. Even now Tulsidas is known to people of Mysuru through the hospital that bears his name.