If the words of district administration are any indication, the miseries at Women and Children’s Hospital at Mattanchery will soon come to an end.
The hospital is on the path of a facelift - the major one being the construction of pre-detection cancer units for women.
District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth said a plan is on the cards to do away with the obsolete facilities and equip the hospital with more modern facilities that will benefit the poor.
The project is being developed as a part of the attempt to diversify funds to government hospitals in the district to make them self-reliant.
“With a far-sighted vision, we could turn Ernakulam General Hospital into a hospital which offers most modern treatment facilities. Setting that as an example, the district administration is now targeting Women and Children’s Hospital at Mattanchery which could help a lot of women and children,” he said.
At a time when the statistics are showing an insurmountable increase in breast cancer cases across the state, the early cancer detection centre will help women treat the anomaly in the initial stage of its occurrence. “Apart from it, focus will also be given to treat cervical cancer,” he said. The pre-detection cancer units will be built in the land available opposite to hospital,” he said.
Dr Shobha, superintendent, Women and Children’s Hospital, Mattancherry, said that an isolation room will be built for children as part of the project.
“Instead of wards, cubicles will be constructed for children which will not accommodate not more than two patients. This can prevent the spreading of infection to a great extend,” she said.
Dr Shobha said that a portion of the new facilities, which the district administration is planning to bring about in the hospital, will be financed under the Innovative Fund of the District Collector. “An amount of `40 lakh has been earmarked from the fund of the District Collector in this regard,” she said.
Talks are also on with NRIs to fund the project. “We have already got a green light from one among them,” she said.
Pareeth said discussions are also on to distribute free meals to the patients in the hospital just as in the Ernakulam General Hospital.
“Though substantial steps in this regard is yet to be taken, we are planning to bring in the alumni of the various engineering colleges to render help in our efforts,” he added.