PATHANAMTHITTA: The old building that housed the maternity and paediatric wards at District Hospital in Kozhencherry was closed on Thursday afternoon following a directive from Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy.

Hospital Superintendent M.S. Umesh said that the wards were shifted to another multi-storeyed building on the hospital complex in the evening.

The Public Works Department had declared the old hospital building `unfit' to house patients in 2000.

Though the district panchayat is the custodian of the hospital, the panchayat authorities failed to shift the maternity ward to a safer building till the Minister's intervention on the basis of media reports.

Taking stock

The Minister as well as the Central team of experts visited the hospital recently to take stock of the situation in the backdrop of viral fever spreading in different parts of the district.

The Central team also directed the hospital authorities to open the operation theatre after completing repair and maintenance on a war footing.

The operation theatre was closed a few days ago following detection of klebsiella bacteria infection on the anaesthesia table.

Financial aid

Dr. M.S. Umesh said that the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) agreed to sanction financial assistance worth Rs.10 lakh for modifying the operation theatre.

He said that a theatre modification proposal, estimated at Rs.12.5 lakh, had already been submitted to the district panchayat for approval.

The panchayat agreed to sanction Rs.2.5 lakh for the proposed project, he added.

The Health Minister will convene a meeting in Pathanamthitta to discuss the problems facing District Hospital on Monday.

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