KASARAGOD: The Tata Trust hospital built for Covid care cannot be converted into a palliative care centre for endosulfan patients now, the State government told the Supreme Court.
Chief secretary V P Joy said in an affidavit that the Tata hospital was being used as an isolation ward for suspected monkeypox patients, an isolation ward for Covid-19 patients, and was also used by the District Mental Health Programme.
The use of the hospital for any other purpose could be considered based on its suitability only after the facility was decommissioned as an isolation and treatment centre for persons affected by infectious diseases, the government told the apex court.
To be sure, the Tata hospital is built using 128 shipping containers for Rs 60 crore, has 551 beds, and is spread over 80,000 sq ft.
But as of Friday, it has only four Covid patients. Two weeks ago, a child was admitted with symptoms of monkeypox. "The test was negative and the patient was discharged," said an official of the Tata hospital.
The District Mental Health Programme uses a portion of the hospital as a daycare centre for patients under treatment. "It was run from another facility. Now it is shifted to the Tata Hospital," the official said. The daycare centre gets around 20 patients.
A container -- if it is an isolation ward -- has three independent rooms with attached bathrooms. For quarantine wards, each container has five beds with one attached bathroom.
So at the most, around 20 containers would be needed for the daycare centre of the mental health programme. Nearly a hundred customised air-conditioned containers are lying unused.
Endosulfan victims had argued in the Supreme Court that the Tata hospital should be turned into a palliative care centre for them because it is presently lying idle.
The government dismissed the demand for a palliative care hospital saying there are functional palliative care units in all 38 panchayats and three municipalities of Kasaragod district with the support of local self-government. Out of which, 13 centres are offering secondary level services, the government said in its affidavit.
Appearing for eight endosulfan victims, who filed a contempt of court case against the government, advocate P S Sudheer sought two weeks to file a counter affidavit. "Palliative care in Kasaragod is inadequate. We sought time to file a counter affidavit to bring out the facts and the court has granted it," he said. The state government had asked the Supreme Court to close the case.