The government will strengthen the infrastructure of SAT and Medical College hospitals, which are premier public-sector tertiary care institutions, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said.
The government intended to make MCH a referral tertiary care hospital in the true sense, by strengthening facilities in taluk hospitals and thus reducing the number of patients at the MCH. He added he would soon convene a meeting of all doctors and stakeholders to discuss how the functioning of MCH could be made more efficient.
He was inaugurating the new fertility centre and a host of sophisticated and specialised paediatric treatment facilities at the SAT hospital on Thursday. The fertility centre, the first in the public sector in the State, is equipped to offer ART-aided sophisticated fertility treatments such as IVF.
New generator
Mr. Sivakumar said that the government would sanction Rs.48 lakh for a new generator for SAT, as maintaining uninterrupted power supply was important for the efficient functioning of the new treatment facilities. A 10-bed paediatric intensive care unit, 10-bed high dependency unit and a Level III 20-bed neonatal ICU, all of which provide specialised care for infants in a critical state of health were also opened here. Well-equipped paediatric neurology and paediatric cardiology centres and a central oxygen plant are the other additions in the new golden jubilee block.
Play zone too
A play zone for children, something which had been sorely lacking in SAT hospital, which has over 300 child inpatients at any time of the year, also became a reality on Thursday.
The play area for children was set up with the funds provided by the Medical College Alumni Association and AKMG, the association of MCH doctors abroad.
The government, in consultation with the NRHM, would also make CT scan facility available for SAT hospital immediately, he added. The re-location of the casualty wings in both SAT hospital and MCH would be completed before December this year.
Principal of Medical College Ramdas Pisharody presided over the function.
