KOCHI: The decision of the co-operative department to hand over the cathlab and the dialysis unit at the Punnapra Sagara Hospital under the Co-operative Academy for Professional Education (CAPE) to the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, has triggered a controversy.
The cathlab is estimated to cost around Rs 4 crore. It is used for tests, including angiogram, and doing treatment procedures like angioplasty.
The decision has been taken at a time when the Ernakulam Government Medical College (EGMC) does not have even a full-time cardiologist, not to say a cardiology department.
While this is affecting the care given to hundreds of patients visiting the medical college every day, the students of not only MBBS but also PG courses are forced to go to other medical colleges to support their study.
While the EGMC has a dialysis unit, it is not manned by a full-time nephrologist currently.
The Sagara Hospital was established as a satellite unit of the Ernakulam Medical College when it was functioning under the CAPE controlled by the co-operative department of the state government.
That time it was called Cochin Co-operative Medical College which was later taken over by the government following public demand.
The MoU between CAPE and AIMS to hand over the facilities was signed on September 17 and AIMS has been authorised to use the facility and deploy sufficient manpower, including doctors to run the facility, according to Co-operation Minister C.N. Balakrishnan.
“The facilities have been in disuse for years and instead of letting them rot we decided to entrust them with AIMS so that the facilities are properly used,” Mr Balakrishnan told DC.
When asked whether it would have not been better to shift the facility to the EGMC so that the parent hospital and the patients and students would benefit, he shot back: “Such things would be taken care of by the government.”
