Kochi: The Aluva district hospital is entering the new financial year carving a special position for itself among the district hospitals in the state by offering a slew of special facilities, many of which are additions in 2018. The major features of the hospital are the regional blood transfusion centre which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, regional dialysis centre, haemophilia treatment centre, K. Karunakaran memorial block & operation theatre and the outpatient block. Now a masterplan is being readied under the auspices of Anwar Sadath MLA to turn it into a super-specialty hospital.
The latest addition at the blood transfusion centre is an aphaeresis equipment – an automated blood component collection system, TRIMA, sponsored by Terumo Penpol. “Using this system, whole blood is channelled from the donor and the required component is separated and retained and the rest is re-transfused into the donor. By this method we can take 6 to 8 units of platelets or two units of red cell concentrate or two units of plasma at a time. While platelet donation can be repeated after three days those donating red cell concentrate and plasma have to wait for three months. During dengue and leptospirosis outbreaks and treatment of malignancies, the need for platelets goes up considerably,” said Dr N. Vijayakumar, medical officer in charge.
“The centre is the only blood bank accredited by NABH in the public sector. It has applied for licence to the drugs control authorities for starting the procedure at the earliest,” he said. It was recognised as the training centre for technicians & medical officers in 2005. Proposals for starting a 24X7 state of the art laboratory as part of the blood bank is pending before the government The regional dialysis centre has 24 machines and has already completed 75,000 quality dialyses this month. The government has identified this as a training centre. Senior doctors from Dubai donated Rs 25 lakh to construct its second floor. The district panchayat has this year allotted Rs 28 lakh to purchase consumables.
The haemophilia treatment centre has drawn international attention in a short span of 4 years with 10 publications. With nearly 70 percent of identified patients enrolled and getting treatment here, it is the second largest in the country. It has modern facilities for diagnosis, drug treatment, physiotherapy, counselling and vocational therapy. The centre has been selected by the World Federation of Haemophilia for 4 years twinning with the Haemophilia Centre of Excellence, New Castle upon Tyne from 2018 to 2022.
The physiotherapy unit got the prestigious BHAP award (Bayer Group Leverkeusen, Germany). Mr Anwar Sadath MLA has allotted Rs 28 lakh for constructing a pool at the centre this year while the district panchayat has given Rs 1 crore. The K. Karunakaran memorial block & operation theatre built and furnished by the Ernakulam district panchayat at a cost of '5 crore will be ready for inauguration next month. The outpatient block constructed at a cost of over '5 crore has modern facilities.
