Official approval has been given for the first phase of work to set up a full-fledged unit for burns patients at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode.
Sources said on Monday that a Central team that visited the hospital recently had approved a proposal for the unit submitted by the authorities. The project is under the National Programme for Prevention and Management of Burn Injuries of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The sources said that 60% of the funds for the unit would be sanctioned by the Centre and the rest by the State government.
The facility will have an intensive care unit (ICU) fully dedicated to burns, an operation theatre, wards for male and female patients, and a post-operative section. A physiotherapy ward too could come up there. Up to 30 patients can be accommodated there. Right now, there is only one ICU at the hospital to treat such patients.
The plastic surgery ward at the hospital has been shifted to the newly constructed block under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. Ward no. 25, where the plastic surgery ward has been functioning earlier, will be modified to set up the burns care unit. The earmarked funds for the first phase of construction and other works is around Rs. 3.46 crore. Similar dedicated burns care units are already functioning at government medical college hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam. In the future, there is a plan to have a skin bank too at the Kozhikode medical college hospital.
The objective of the national programme is to reduce incidence, mortality, morbidity and disability due to burns. The plan is to set up infrastructure and network for behaviour change communication, burns management, and rehabilitation interventions. As many as 70 government medical college hospitals and 25 district hospitals across the country will have dedicated burns care services and skilled manpower. It also aims to improve awareness among people and vulnerable groups such as women, children, industrial and hazardous occupational workers.
