Niloufer Hospital superintendent Dr Ravi Kumar suspended for illegal medical shop on premises

Hyderabad: Superintendent of Niloufer Hospital Dr N Ravi Kumar was suspended by the Telangana State government over the illegal construction of a medical shop on the hospital premises.

On May 22, the Hyderabad collector's team visited the hospital and took stock of the situation. The report was submitted to the director of medical and health, and suspension orders were issued.

The collector’s office also gave orders to demolish the illegal structure. The office stated that no permission was taken to construct the medical shop on the premises.

Administrative issues are a plenty

Doctors at Niloufer Hospital also complained about Dr Ravi Kumar to the health minister and the director of medical and health with regards to administrative issues of blood banks, issues raised by postgraduate students working in the hospital and other issues which were not being resolved.

Using CMO as a shield

A senior doctor said, “Dr Ravi Kumar is a senior doctor but would use the name of the chief minister’s office to silence those who brought up the lapses. Due to this reason, doctors in the hospital were very upset with his style of functioning.”

Doctors at Niloufer Hospital complained to the CMO about the name-dropping by Dr Ravi Kumar. The issue was referred to the health ministry, which asked the health department to investigate and submit a report.

New superintendent appointed

Dr Vijay Kumar has been appointed by the government as the new superintendent of Niloufer Hospital.

Niloufer Hospital is the government children’s hospital and is connected with Osmania General Hospital for the medical education of doctors.

Who is Dr Ravi Kumar?

Dr Ravi Kumar is a senior paediatrician and professor at Osmania Medical College. He has 25-plus years of experience. Dr Kumar has worked on challenging cases in paediatrics and has mentored many young paediatricians in Telangana.

As the superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ravi mentored many doctors who have gone on to perform complex life-saving surgeries. One such case was done under the supervision of Dr L Swapna, professor and head of the department of Neonatology.

Against all odds, the Niloufer doctors’ team saved quadruplets who were born premature and underweight in March this year. The newborns faced several complications common in preterm infants, including sepsis, jaundice, apnea and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). One of the babies required eye surgery, which was conducted with the support of specialists.

Over 35 days, the condition of the babies gradually improved, and they were of a healthy weight at the time of being discharged from the hospital.