The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : MCH campus in need of a facelift

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

MCH campus in need of a facelift

Staff Reporter

Several projects in this regard never took off
Development and repair of roads needs top priority

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the project for upgrading the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, under the Prime Minister’s Swasthya Suraksha Yojana at a total investment of Rs.120 crore is inching along, the much-neglected MCH campus is crying out for a facelift.

While everyone agrees that campus development and other major changes in the hospital should happen hand in hand, several projects drawn up before for sprucing up the campus have never taken off.

Improvement of the arterial road on the MCH campus, improving road access to the hospital, tackling the law and order situation on the campus and restrictions on visitors to hospital are issues that have remained unaddressed.

Even as city roads are being tarred and repaired, the roads inside the MCH campus continue to be neglected. The authorities say that administrative sanction has been obtained for tarring works but as the rains continue, this work is likely to be delayed.

Even though the campus houses four major hospitals, including the RCC and the Sri Chitra Institute, inadequate parking space, poor lighting and total lack of road signs and traffic symbols to regulate pedestrian and vehicular traffic often create chaos.

In the peak hours, especially between 7.45 a.m. and 8.30 a.m., traffic on the main road from the MCH gate to the SAT is so crowded that it takes precious minutes before a patient can be reached to the casualty.

The current location of the casualty block is quite unscientific. Though massive changes are envisaged at the MCH to make it more easily accessible from the main road, these changes will not take place until the new OP block and super specialty block are ready.

In the past three years, several proposals had been put forth for campus development.

One proposal was that the main road from the MCH entrance till the SAT Hospital junction be made a one-way, with two-lane traffic.

Other entrance and exit points to the MCH, one near the SBT and another near the mortuary, could be developed.

These proposals were part of the development initiatives under the Capital Region Development Programme to develop and improve the entire Medical College Hospital zone.

However, these proposals have remained on paper.

“All our hopes are now on the PMSSY scheme, which will give a major facelift to the hospital. One should remember that this is the first major development project that has come our way in the past several decades,” a senior MCH official said.

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