MADURAI: The new burns ward inaugurated by the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami a month ago at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), remains unutilised, all thanks to the delay in the completion of the construction. The apathy of officials concerned is posing critical challenges in immediately shifting patients with burn injuries to the new ward.
Centre's proposal
The proposal for the establishment of the new burns unit at Madurai Medical College dates back to September 2016, when the 7th Screening Committee of the Central government recommended it under the National Programme for Prevention and Management of Burn Injuries (NPPMBI). Later, as a response, the State government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Health Ministry and stated that the burns unit proposed at a sum of Rs 6.579 crore would be jointly funded by the Centre and the State in a 60:40 ratio. In about a week, the Centre released its share (60%) – Rs 2.079 crore for the construction and procurement of equipment by GRH under NPPMBI as a first instalment.
State's announcement
In July 2017, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare announced in the Legislative Assembly, the establishment of a burns unit at the government medical colleges in Madurai, Coimbatore, Vellore and Salem at a cost of Rs 6.57 crore each, amounting to Rs 26.28 crore. During this time, a pressing need for a refurbished burns ward at GRH was felt when the Kurangani fire accident took place in Theni district in March 2018. After the accident, many patients with a higher degree of burns were shifted and treated at the tertiary hospital's existing burns ward (ward number 302) that was built 56 years ago.
According to a government order, the works for the new burns unit at the GRH began with an initial investment of Rs 3.465 crore, barring the expenses on contractual staff. While the construction of the new burns ward was completed at a cost of Rs 2.175 crore in February 2020, the inaugural was delayed by 10 months due to Covid outbreak.
The roadblocks
With everything in the background, the project that was conceived to upgrade the existing facility is yet to serve its purpose. The new ward, despite its grand inauguration, continues to be locked up for almost a year now. Incomplete construction has been cited as a reason for the plight.
A senior official said, "The new building's floor plan includes, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with 12 beds, burns outpatients (OP) clinic, OP dressing room and physiotherapy room on the ground floor; an operation theatre (OT), recovery ward, male and female wards and skin bank on the first floor. To construct the new building with the allocated sum of Rs 2.175 crore, a part of the first floor covering the area earmarked for general wards (10 beds each for men and women) and the skin bank was not constructed. The unfinished portion was set aside for the claimed future expansion, after obtaining additional funds."
Sources' take on the problem
Staff from the hospital said that the issue in shifting is that only ICU patients could be treated at the new building while the general ward would continue in the existing building situated in a faraway location.
"Due to this, many challenges, including, infection risks for ICU patients during shifting, and logistic difficulties, would arise. Further, if the existing ward is shifted to the new burns unit, it would cause inconvenience and infection for the patients when the construction of the remaining portion on the first floor commences. Besides, equipment including, operation theatre lights, operation theatre table, air conditioners and central oxygen supply lines at the ICU are yet to be provided in the new building citing inadequate funds, despite allocation (Rs 1.29 crore) for procurement of equipment," they said.
A solution soon?
The issue was taken to the notice of the Deputy Director of Medical Education (DDME) Dr T Sabeetha when she visited GRH a fortnight ago and an additional fund of at least `40 lakh was sought to complete the construction of the first floor, to bring the new burns unit into the functionality at the earliest, another official shared. A proposal (with cost estimates) to build the unfinished portion would be sent to the Directorate of Medical Education in a week, informed a hospital source.