THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government would give super speciality status to all the medical colleges in the state soon, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
He was speaking after inaugurating the double-storeyed skywalk on the premises of the Medical College Hospital here. The state-of-the art skywalk was constructed under the aegis of Infosys Foundation.
“Medical colleges in the state need better facilities to ensure quality treatment for patients. As most of the patients belong to poor families, they have to get free treatment or treatment at minimal cost with quality facilities. Our government is initiating several measures for the welfare of the destitute to give them better treatment. As part of this, the ambulance network in the state will get a facelift soon. Similarly, the government is also planning to implement the free medical treatment project,” Pinarayi said.
OP ticketing at MCH goes online
The chief minister also said that the online out-patient ticketing system would be launched at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College to avoid long queues at the counters in the hospital.
“On a daily basis, over 10,000 patients come to the hospital for treatment. But the long queues are creating trouble for them by and large. This should be changed. The new system will be a replica of the one at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi”, Pinarayi said.
He also praised the efforts made by Infosys. He said that a corporate like Infosys had set an example by lending a helping hand to the thousands of patients who came here for treatment.
Infosys has built the skywalk at a total cost of `5.2 crore. The company constructed the 4-m wide skywalk in three years as their corporate social responsibility initiative.
The skywalk connects the casualty wing with the out-patient block, blood bank and labs. With the facility becoming operational, patients will not have to cross the busy road to reach various blocks of the hospital for treatment.
The skywalk, which is over 100 m long, connects two blocks of the Medical College Hospital, both at the first and second floors. While the main corridor links the new OP block and the old hospital block, the second corridor links the CT scan and MRI scan centres in the hospital.
The demand for setting up a skywalk was a long-pending one as the road in front of the casualty wing witnesses heavy traffic during peak hours.
Electricity Minister Kadakampally Surendran, Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy and Mayor V K Prasanth spoke on the occasion. Infosys Kerala head Sunil Jose presented the report of the construction of the skywalk.