Construction work on the Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) has been tardy since it began in May last year and has raised questions about the time-bound completion of the project.
As per the schedule, the work is to be completed in another year, but the infrastructure work has only reached the first level of the six lakh square feet area in a six-storey structure.
While the floods last year had affected the pace of work all around, the area had remained unaffected. The procurement of material and manpower had been a problem initially after the flood. However, the shortage of manpower at the construction site continues.
Sources at Inkel, which has undertaken major construction work at the medical college, CCRC and the General Hospital, told The Hindu that the issues were expected to be sorted out soon. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Movement, which had spearheaded the call for a cancer centre had taken up the issue and demanded a full-time Special Officer instead of the District Collector. Meanwhile, the out-patient wing of the CCRC functioning on the Government Medical College premises was expected to add in-patient facility, especially aimed for patients scheduled for surgery.
While space for a minimum 20-bed facility was identified, it was later scaled down to six beds. CCRC Director Moni Kuriakose said there was space for 20 beds, but it would start with six beds.
A dedicated operation theatre for CCRC had been in the reckoning for more than a year, but the allotted space has been lying unused for several years.
The whole space had to be cleaned, fumigated and refurbished to set up the surgical department, said Dr. Kuriakose.