The government has sanctioned ₹25 crore for setting up a modern imaging centre at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam. A statement from Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said that the aim was to make available high-level diagnostics to the poor at low rates.
The fund will be utilised to procure digital radiography and fluoroscopy machines, two colour-doppler ultrasound machines, colour doppler with illustrography, digital mammography unit, two digital radiography units, MRI scan unit, bone densitometry scan machine, packs, eco-cardiography machine, and office equipment and furniture.
Some of the other development projects at the medical college will be funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The projects are expected to cost around ₹620 crore, and they are part of the ₹680-crore comprehensive development package for the institution and the Kochi Cancer Centre.
The Mother and Child block, superspecialty block, staff quarters, and an auditorium are among the projects proposed at the medical college. The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority has cleared the projects, according to Principal Dr. V.K. Sreekala. The government has granted administrative sanction for the release of ₹368.75 crore. A revised estimate of ₹540 crore was given to the government, she said.
The 128-slice CT scanning machine installed at the medical college using ₹5.36 crore provided by John Fernandes, MLA, from the Legislative Assembly Constituency Asset Development Fund will soon become operational. A statement said that the service would make the medical college one of the premier institutions providing the facility.
The cardio-thoracic block coming up at the medical college with ₹12 crore sanctioned by KIIFB is in the last leg of construction, the statement added. The catheterisation equipment has already arrived, and experts will soon be appointed.
Besides, five new ventilators have been purchased for the medical college. A professor and two assistant professors in nephrology have been posted.
A dialysis facility will come up in the second phase of development, said the statement.
With the increase in facilities, out-patient departments at the institution are getting more patients. The daily OP is around 1,300 and nearly 300 people are taken care at the emergency department, while more than 550 patients are being attended to in the in-patient department.
