Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Central nod for MCH upgradation plan

Staff Reporter

Will be implemented once the State gives its commitment

Thiruvananthapuram: The final version of the Rs.100-crore proposal for the upgradation of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital (MCH), submitted by the State under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, has got Central approval `subject to certain conditions' it is learnt.

The proposal will be implemented once the State gives a written undertaking that it will meet the commitment to provide one-fifth of the project cost - Rs.20 crore, a senior Health Department official said.

Following the visit of a Central team in mid-August to inspect the MCH and fine-tune its upgradation proposal, a high-level team, including the Health Secretary, Director of Medical Education and the Principal, medical college, went to New Delhi last week to make a final presentation.

Points approved

"It was a smooth sail for us and the ministry approved almost all the points in our proposal. As specified earlier, one of the conditions is that the expenses on construction be limited. However, the Central team seems to have taken note of our acute space crunch and about Rs.40 crore has now been ear-marked for new construction," a senior official said.

About Rs.50 crore is to be spent on purchase of medical equipment and the rest is being kept aside as `buffer money' for future development of allied departments, he said.

Re-modelling

The coming days will see some `re-modelling and re-naming' of spaces in the hospital block. Over 21 clinical departments will get new medical equipment, some of which will have to be shared between the departments.

All the equipment for the 13 medical colleges being considered for upgradation under the PMSSY will be bought by the Centre and then distributed.

All construction work, including part of the work on the new super specialty block which will be taken up along with the development proposal, will be handled by a reputed public sector company on a turnkey basis.

A special officer has already been appointed for overseeing the implementation of the proposal. A hospital consultancy firm is also being hired by the Centre.

Super specialties

Development of super specialties, increase in PG seats and improvement of paramedical courses will get top priority.

Improvement of road access to the MCH is also known to have come up during the discussions. At present, there is only one arterial road leading to the institution.

The long-term road development around MCH should be taken up as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project, it has been suggested.

Patient-friendly hospital

The casualty wing, trauma care unit, laboratories and certain service departments like clinical pharmacy will be relocated in a phased manner so that the hospital building becomes more patient-friendly.

What is currently being envisaged is that once the super specialty block is constructed, some departments and its wards will be shifted to the new building, leaving at least 250-bed space free in the main block.

The outpatients' unit is at present very congested and this is also proposed to be shifted to the super specialty block or the building which is to be commissioned as the trauma unit.

This will leave the OP block, ENT OP and the theatre and one floor entirely free for a combined casualty and trauma unit.

It is also now almost certain that the trauma care unit will not be housed in the building which is earmarked for the purpose as connecting it to the main hospital block with a ramp is an unlikely proposition.

The Central team had expressed their unhappiness over this unutilised space.

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