THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The renovation of cancer wards at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital is a step towards converting it into a patient-friendly one, according to Health Minister K K Shylaja. She said this after inaugurating the renovated cancer wards (11 and 12) and launching the In-house Biomedical Engineering section on Thursday.
Stating a Rs 600-crore master plan was being readied for the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College as part of converting it into a centre of excellence, she said a lot of programmes have been sanctioned for the medical college after the government came to power. Apart from this, SAT Women and Children Hospital in the Medical College campus would also be developed.
The Minister said an amount of Rs 355 crore would be given for setting up a modern cancer centre at Kochi. The centre was being set up here taking into account the increase of patient flow at the Regional Cancer Centre and Malabar Cancer Centre. Moreover, she said all the medical colleges in the state will be equipped to treat cancer patients. It was in this regard that 105 new posts were created for oncology department in the state, she said.
Shylaja claimed 4,100 posts were created in the health sector in the last one a half years, which was a record. Of the nurses now in service, three-fourth of them were posted during the Left Government, she said.
Councillor S S Sindhu, Medical College principal Dr Thomas Mathews, hospital superintendent Dr M S Sharmad, SAT superintendent Dr A Santhosh Kumar, Cancer Department head Dr K L Jayakumar and others were present at the inauguration.
As part of the renovation, the ward will have new beds, biosafety cabin for administering chemotherapy, high dependency unit, isolation rooms and modern drug storage facilities. The South Indian Bank, Mythri Cancer Care Society and Lourde Women Association have cooperated in the renovation.
The In-house Biomedical Engineering section would handle all the equipment. It is for the first time a hospital in the government sector is getting such a department.