The new Cath lab in Medical College hospital will become functional in the next three months, an official release issued by the Govt Medical College here said.
The new Cath lab will be replacing the old one in the same location, which had been set up in 1997 and has become dysfunctional.
The latter is expected to be dismantled by the end of December.
All five Government Medical Colleges are being equipped with new Cath labs and the equipment for Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Kozhikode MCHs are being purchased together through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation.
Another such lab
The MCH here has another Cath lab which was set up about five years ago and which handles approximately 450 procedures, including coronary angiography / angioplasty, closure of some congenital heart defects, pacemaker implantation and restenosis of calcified vessels, every month.
Currently, there is a waiting period of over two months for most Cath lab procedures, except emergency procedures.
Once the new Cath lab is established, this waiting period could be avoided, MCH authorities hope.
The Cardiology department at MCH has always been overcrowded as the department provides all sophisticated Cath lab procedures at rates which are much lower than the current rates charged by private sector hospitals.
MCH charges Rs. 10,000 for coronary angioplasty for the BPL category and Rs. 20,000 for the APL category, while the corresponding rates for coronary angiogram is Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively.
