Kerala - Kozhikode   

Medical college gearing up for jubilee fete

Special Correspondent

Hopes that the celebrations will speed up its development

KOZHIKODE: Amid hopes that the golden jubilee of the Government medical college hospital here will speed up its development, elaborate arrangements are being made to celebrate the occasion in a big way.

An organising committee, with Principal of the college V. Geetha as chairperson and Varghese Thomas as organising secretary, has been formed for the celebrations. A host of eminent doctors who are either alumni of the college or have served long years there as teachers are in charge of the celebrations.

The doctors P.V. Narayanan, C. Asokan Nambiar, M. Thomas Mathew and P.V. Ramachandran are vice-chairpersons of the committee and P.K. Sasidharan the general convener.

The reception committee formed to organise the event has 1,001 members. They will be members of 21 committees. The finance committee launched its activities on Monday, accepting a donation of Rs. 1 lakh from T.K. Jayarajan, an alumnus.

Inaugurated on August 5 in 1957 by the then Chief Minister, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the college has emerged as a refuge for a large section of people in north Kerala region when they are in need of specialised medical care.

The number of patients getting admitted to the hospital's in-patient ward every year is 1.6 lakhs. Nearly 5.2 lakhs patients are estimated to make use of the outpatient wards every year.

Nearly 25,000 childbirths take place in the hospital's labour rooms every year, which is considered to be among the highest in any hospital in the world.

Spread over only 164 acres, the campus houses, besides the medical college and its subsidiary units, a hospital, a dental college, a nursing college and a pharmacy college. This has led to heavy pressure on space.

Shortage of space, coupled with overcrowding of hospital wards with patients and those accompanying them, often push to the background the high quality of medical services the hospital provides.

Lack of modernisation of facilities has increased problems on account of space shortage.

In fact, development of hospital facilities has become an urgent need and is the focus of public attention.

The urgent need for development of casualty, wards and operation theatres, modernisation of diagnostic facilities by installing new equipment and making available enough medicines, doctors and other staff have been long-standing demands.

The super-specialty wing of the hospital, which is expected to further improve medical care facilities, is yet to be inaugurated.

Dr. Geetha believes the celebrations will become more meaningful if these are linked to development of hospital facilities.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Medical college gearing up for jubilee fete
Fish-workers to protest against extension of trawling ban
Hartal peaceful in district
`Civic body cannot run waste treatment plant'
Woman sentenced in drugs case
Hartal in Kozhikode peaceful
Seminar on sexuality

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu