SAT readies to become Kerala’s first Cathlab for children in government sector
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The public healthcare sector in the state will soon add another feather to its cap as the government has fast paced its efforts to establish a catheterisation laboratory (Cathlab) for children at SAT Hospital on the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College campus.
As per the plan, the Cathlab (an examination room with diagnostic imaging equipment for visualising the arteries of the heart and the chambers of the heart) will get functional within a month or two. “The Cathlab being set up at SAT Hospital for children is the first-of-its-kind in the public healthcare sector. A total of 13 posts have also been created for the new facility,” said an officer with the Health Department.
It is learnt that with such a facility in place paediatric heart procedures including coronary angiography, coronary angioplasty, closure of congenital heart defects, treatment of stenotic heart valves and others could be performed in a cost-effective manner. Besides, the Cathlab will also have the facility to perform balloon atrial septostomy.