KOTTAYAM: Kottayam Government Medical College hospital, the first and only institution in the government sector in the state to have conducted heart-transplant surgery and conducts more than 1000 surgeries a year, is now looking up to a critical piece of infrastructure: a second cathlab. The MCH authorities have been knocking on the government’s door for the last three years for a new cathlab as the present one is nine years old and its equipment use obsolete technology. The MCH has already completed the construction of the building to house the second cathlab and is waiting for the equipment worth Rs 5.5 crore. The government has taken no decision on it, it is learnt, affecting the functioning of the cardiology department which has brought laurel to the MCH as well as the medical education department in the state.
“The government has assured us of sanctioning a second cathlab but no concrete decision has come on that yet,” said Dr T.K. Jayakumar, professor of cardio-thoracic surgery at the Kottayam MCH. “The existing one is not enough to meet the treatment needs of the patients.” Incidentally, Dr Jayakumar headed the team that successfully performed the heart-transplant surgery. The cardiology department attends to about 300 outpatients and between 25 and 40 in-patients a day. The government had sanctioned Rs 14 crore to the department in 2014 which helped it set up three modular operation theaters and an 18-bed ICU along with supporting equipment. A second cathlab will help it multiply its ability to serve the patients, who mostly belong to the poor section of society.
