The Cardiology Patients Welfare Forum at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam, has started Hridayathinu Oru Kaithangu Hridaya Nidhi Padhathi to collect funds to install equipment like ECG, Eco, Treadmill and catheterisation laboratory (Cath lab) for a full-fledged Cardiology Department.
In spite of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s promise of setting up a Cardiology Department in the Medical College last August, the government procedures in developing the college and the hospital have been quite the contrary, according to the forum.
K.P.S. Pillai, president of the forum, told The Hindu that they were in the process of seeking help from various individuals and organisations to get their campaign going.
Patients reaching here for heart treatment are turned away as there is no basic heart care facility and they are forced to seek treatment at a private hospital, said a statement issued by the forum that has planned a sit-in on December 17 on the medical college premises highlighting these issues.
Dr. Abdul Khader, the part-time cardiologist, who runs the Cardiology Department in the medical college, told The Hindu that the forum’s idea could work if the Hospital Development Society, headed by the District Collector, would go for a bank loan with if the crowdfunding support fetches about Rs.70 to 80 lakh. An eco machine could cost in the range of Rs.25 lakh to Rs.60 lakh, a treadmill could cost Rs.8 lakh and a cath lab costs about Rs.3.5 crore.
Even if donations help to buy equipment, the government has to provide staff to run the department, said Dr. Khader, who is credited with setting up the Cardiology Department at Kottayam Medical College.
Here, he is left to deal with the patients with an attendant and a blood pressure checking equipment. Medical College has once a week OP for heart patients, a weekly once schedule for surgical patients and other in-patients.
The patients’ forum has set up a bank account to collect funds. All donations could be sent to the branch of the Ernakulam District Co-operative Bank to the account number 045241000002920 with IFSC code: UBINODCBEDC.
