Maternal and child health in southern districts is set to take a big leap as a huge integrated maternity complex has been planned inside the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here.
It will be a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the field of gynaecology and the site for construction a multi-storey building on the hospital premises is to be identified. N. Mohan, Dean, told The Hindu on Thursday that the integrated mother and child health complex will be an all-under-one-roof facility to provide advanced medical care. “We are identifying a suitable place for this project and it has to be approved by the Health Secretary. Already the proposal has been sent and the space available near the auditorium and steam laundry is under consideration,” he said.
The Rs.50-crore facility would have labour room, blood storage unit, conference hall, intensive care unit, guest rooms, scan centre and rest rooms for doctors and nursing staff, besides a spacious post-operative ward. The hospital authorities are also considering the option of raising more floors above the one–storey paediatric block. “The present building of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology will also be used in addition to the new complex. Once it starts functioning, virtually any complication in maternal and child care will be handled at the GRH,” the Dean said.
Two places in the State — Salem and Madurai — were chosen for establishing Centres of Excellence and the project was expected to get funds from the State government and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Talks were under way with the Director of Medical Education to complete the preparatory work and get the construction work going.
Alanganallur PHC
Meanwhile, another maternal and child health centre is also coming up at the upgraded Primary Health Centre in Alanganallur near here with the support of State government and NRHM.
S. Senthilkumar, Deputy Director of Health Services, Madurai district, said that Alanganallur PHC was chosen for the ‘level 2 centre’ in maternal care since it was at a strategic location where the number of deliveries was high. “For tertiary care centre, people there have to travel about 25 kilometres to reach GRH in Madurai. So, we are setting up a well-equipped maternal care centre in Alanganallur with separate infrastructure for the convenience of pregnant women,” he said.
Training for the health staff was going on and the centre will have round-the-clock gynaecologist and paediatrician, he said.
