TIRUCHY: The ophthalmology department at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) in the city is soon set for an upgrade which includes dedicated clinics treating specific parts of the eye, and theatres for cataract and vitreoretinal surgeries. If all goes well, the upgrade at an estimate of Rs 3 crore will be completed in three months, sources said.
The project that entails a new first floor block is part of a larger Rs 110 crore super specialty development initiative under way by the state government. The expansion includes exclusive male and female post-operative wards, a new outpatient block, separate clinics for glaucoma and cornea care, an eye bank, a refraction room, and advanced theatres for cataract and vitreoretinal surgeries.
A new septic operation theatre and a postgraduate library are also part of the project. A ramp and a staircase are also being constructed for elderly and disabled patients. While space constraints forced two specialty clinics to operate from a single room, the expansion project will offer dedicated retina, glaucoma and cornea clinics, sources said.
Currently, the ground floor built with funding from the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) houses both preoperative and postoperative patients. With the expansion, preoperative wards will remain on the ground floor, while postoperative care will shift upstairs, allowing a more sterile and controlled environment.
"We can now admit cataract surgery patients exclusively and evaluate them in a dedicated space," said Dr Parthiban Purushothaman, head of the Department of Ophthalmology, KAPV Medical College- MGMGH.
"We shouldn't keep septic cases alongside cataract patients. The new set-up allows us to reserve the septic operation theatre for those cases, ensuring better infection control."
"We're fully equipped, including with the latest OCT machine specifically for diabetic retinopathy, high-resolution fundus cameras, and angiography systems, many of which came through Japanese collaborations like JICA," Dr Parthiban added.