Thiruvananthapuram: With the formation of super speciality cadre in health service sector, most district hospitals under the health department will now have facilities for cancer care, neurology including stroke management, urology and medical gastro.
To begin with the health department has created 16 super speciality posts. The state government had set aside Rs 69 crore in this year’s budget for setting up Cath Labs, ICU, Dialysis unit, Emergency Care Centres and Super Speciality facilities in important hospitals.
Sources said considering the increasing incidence of life style diseases among the population, priority would for cardiologists especially in major hospitals. At the moment cath lab facilities are available only in Palakkad and Ernakulam general hospital. Another cath lab is being set up in Manjeri hospital.
KGMOA state secretary Dr K. A. Raoof welcomed the creation of super specialty cadre posts.However, he said creation of post would not be enough. The health department will have to put in place additional facilities including cath labs, ECG machines, CT Scan, MRI, lithotripsy and dialysis units to be able to utilise the services of the specialists in an effective manner.
By introducing such facilities in the district and general hospitals, the department would be able to provide super speciality services to people outside medical college hospitals.
At the moment even routine cases including chest pain, palpitation, irregular heart beat and high blood pressure at district and general hospitals are referred to medical colleges after preliminary investigations including ECG, BP and blood tests adding to patient load at the medical colleges.
Earlier the government had held series of discussions with representatives of KGMOA on special rules. The doctors’ organisation has demanded creation of more posts as there are 40-odd doctors on the health department super speciality cadre.
