Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Ease pressure on bigger hospitals: Secretary

— Photo: G. Moorthy.

INFORMATIVE: V.K. Subburaj, Health Secretary, centre, receiving the first copy of a souvenir from Collector, S. S. Jawahar, in Madurai on Saturday.

MADURAI: Space constraints at the labour ward in Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here came for attention at the inaugural function of a conference of obstetricians and gynaecologists on Saturday.

“It is good that institutional deliveries are increasing but there are space constraints for the GRH since we cannot expand our labour ward anymore,” S. M. Sivakumar, Dean in-charge, said at the inaugural function of the three-day meet.

Bringing this issue to the attention of State Health Secretary, V. K. Subburaj, who inaugurated the conference, the Dean pointed out that every half an hour a baby was born in the GRH and maternal care demand was increasing.

“To reduce the strain on the GRH labour ward, we have to upgrade the facilities in Corporation maternity centres. Only then the strain on our hospital’s maternity wing will reduce,” Dr. Sivakumar said.

He raised this matter at the ‘Dakshin-2008’ conference of obstetricians and gynaecologists from South India, organised by the Madurai Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society.

Responding to the Dean’s plea, Mr. Subburaj said that if Primary Health Centres took the delivery load, only complicated cases could be referred to the GRH.

“Southern districts like Ramanathapuram are still lagging behind in terms of child delivery in PHCs whereas northern districts like Vellore are doing extremely well. If that aspect is corrected, then bigger Government hospitals like the GRH can concentrate on complicated cases,” the Health Secretary observed.

The District Collector, S. S. Jawahar, said that the number of deliveries in Madurai PHCs had gone up from 350 last year to over 700 this year.

“All the 42 PHCs are functioning well, providing quality treatment,” the Collector pointed out .

Kousalya Devi, senior gynaecologist from Gandhigram in Dindigul district, also spoke.

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