KOCHI: The outpatient (OP) wing of the Kochi Cancer Centre (KCC) began functioning on Tuesday with two cancer specialists and a handful of nurses and other technical staff reporting for duty in the morning. Three patients and the husband of another came to the hospital to consult the doctors, including one referred from Pathalam ESI Hospital and another seeking to shift from Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Thiruvananthapu-ram to Kochi.
The two women and two men patients hailed from Marambilli near Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam, Pathalam and Pathanamthitta but now residing at Kalamassery.
The doctors who joined were senior radiation oncologist Dr Usha Warrier and gynaec oncologist Dr Neethu Sreedhar. It is learnt that senior surgical oncologist at RCC Dr Balagopal will join as the medical superintendent of the KCC. Seven doctor’s posts have been sanctioned. All seven nursing assistants who were allotted joined KCC. Out of seven staff nurses, five have joined duty. Out of three pharmacists two joined, while two lab technicians out of three allotted reported for duty. All of the three medical social workers also joined.
“The lab at the hospital will start functioning after the pathologist reports for duty. Till then the facilities at the medical college nearby will be used for investigation and also other purposes,” said Dr Warrier. The chemotherapy ward has been set up on the first floor of the KCC. Office staff including registrar cum administrative office Vinod Kumar K B and finance officer had already joined duty. It is expected the remaining staff including doctors will report for duty by November 11 when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will officially inaugurate the OP.
The volunteers of the Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement which spearheaded the campaign for setting up KCC distributed sweets on the ocasion. They included Justice P K Shamsudeen, K R Viswambharan, Dr N K Sanal Kumar, former MP Charles Dais and C G Rajagopal. Conspicuous by their absence were local MLA V K Ebrahim Kunju and special officer (technical) Dr V P Gangadharan who has been sidelined by the new government.
