KASARGOD: Three months after Health Minister Veena George indicated the construction of a new block at Government Medical College, Kasargod, the government has not even called a tender for the electrification of the block.
TNIE visited the medical college at Ukkinadka to take stock of the progress of work when 10,000 residents of the district had already joined on site demanding an AIIMS in Kasargod.
The new hospital block project is under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
"But KIIFB's engineers have not yet come to the hospital for site inspection. How can it float tender? Things are static here," said a doctor.
"You can write off this year," he said. He pointed out that once the tender is floated, it will take another three months to zero in on a contractor, and the electrification work would take at least six months. The rest of the civil works will have to be done after that.
The medical college is currently offering only outpatient (OP) consultation services from the Academic Block. "There is nothing much we can do. We cannot scale up our services in this block which is meant to be classrooms, labs and auditorium," he said.
The Health Minister Veena George had called up a review meeting to audit the progress of the work. She told the media that she had rendered some change in plans in the construction of the block. She announced then that the ground floor of the hospital building would be ready to occupy in six months (May).
There are five specialist doctors offering consultation in medicine, neurology, nephrology, rheumatology, paediatric, psychiatry and pulmonology. But the specialist doctors have no tool or gadget to make any advanced intervention. Another five junior doctors take care of the local OP.
Except for Saturdays, all other days have four to six doctors on call. Yet, the average footfall in the hospital is 50 to 60 patients, said a staff.
TNIE contacted Enmakaje panchayat's Family Health Centre (FHC) at Perla, which is 3km from the medical college, to disparate the inflow of patients.
The FHC, despite its upgrade in name, has only one junior doctor, who attends to 80 to 100 patients every day.
The Community Health Centre at Badiadka gets around 200 patients every day and during fever season, up to 750 patients visit the hospital, said a nurse.
Staff at the medical college said only patients with mild symptoms and those with their own vehicles came to the OP clinic. "One, there are no frequent buses and two, there are no facilities here for seriously ill patients," she added.
The staff also pointed out that the patients coming to the OP clinic require specialist doctors.
Kalandar Shah, a native of Shenni in Enmakaje panchayat, was at the hospital asking for a dermatologist. He was directed to a general physician. "We want the government to set up the medical college hospital as soon as possible and not sit on the project," he said.
Shah said he has to take three buses to reach General Hospital in Kasaragod, where there are specialist doctors. "But I can reach medical college in 20 minutes. It will be a big favour to the people of Badiadka and Enmakaje panchayat if the government starts the hospital," he said.
"We have to run the hospital with an inpatient facility for two years before the National Medical Commission can give permission to admit MBBS students," said a doctor.
Kasaragod district does not have a tertiary hospital and the medical college hospital at Ukkinadka has been in the making since November 30, 2013, when Oommen Chandy laid the foundation stone.