KOZHIKODE: A cardio-thoracic surgery unit will soon be set up at the paediatric department of the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said. She was here on Saturday to inaugurate a ₹5.8-crore worth new CT scanner at the nuclear medicine department.
The Minister said that though Kerala was much ahead of other States in terms of providing quality healthcare, the majority of people still depended on private hospitals for treatment. Community healthcare centres were set up in the State to bring in a change in this situation.
Ms. Shylaja said the continuance of the staff pattern devised in 1961 was creating problems in the Health Department.
Though new appointments were made, they were inadequate in the current context. Efforts are on to resolve the issue.
The Minister said the government would soon come up with guidelines on use of antibiotics. “People have this habit of unnecessarily using antibiotics. This has created a situation where germs have acquired immunity against them,” Ms. Shylaja said.
T.P. Ramakrishnan, Minister for Labour and Excise, opened a cardiac CT scanner at the radio-diagnostic department.
Ms. Shylaja also inaugurated a mental healthcare clinic for women at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
The services of experts in psychiatry, psychiatric social work, clinical psychology and psychiatric nursing will be available at the clinic on Thursdays from 9 a.m. till noon.
A skill development centre for aged patients too was opened.
