The Government General Hospital has launched a ‘quick service programme' to take care of its ‘unknown' trauma ward patients.
The programme, a public private partnership endeavour, has received a donation of Rs. 5 lakh from a corporate firm Cholayil Products.
On Saturday, hospital Dean J. Mohanasundaram and Cholayil's proprietor A.V. Anoop signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj.
Accident and Death Care Cell, a non-governmental organisation, will provide six persons who will work on shifts for a monthly salary of Rs. 6,000 to take care of the hospital's ‘unknown' trauma care patients, the dean said.
The hospital receives around 80 to 100 accident victims every day and of these, at least six are ‘unknown' victims, who are either brought to the hospital directly from the accident site or referred from other hospitals. Since the victims are not accompanied by their relatives, treatment is delayed, Dr. Mohanasundaram said.
Rare condition
The hospital's Cardiology Department recently treated a nine-year-old boy, Rajesh, from Arakkonam, who suffered from slow heartbeat. The boy's parents are construction labourers. According to Rajesh's mother Lakshmi, he fainted on April 13 while playing in his house. He was rushed to the nearby primary health centre which referred him to the Government Children's Hospital in Egmore. The hospital referred him to the GH's Cardiology Department for further treatment.
Cardiologist Geetha Subramanian, who treated Rajesh, said that after temporary pacing, the boy was referred for permanent pacemaker. Rajesh's was a rare case as the child had been living with low heart beat rate of 20 per minute. “This is a rare congenital disorder with an incidence of one in one lakh population,” Dr. Geetha said.
Under the Kalaignar insurance scheme at a cost of Rs. 52,000, Rajesh received a permanent pacemaker to enable his heart beat at the normal rhythm of 70 beats per minute.
