Ten more dialysis machines installed at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital at Pariyaram started functioning on Thursday.
T.V. Rajesh, MLA, inaugurated the new dialysis unit of the medical college hospital. An amount of ₹76.51 lakh from the MLA’s constituency asset development fund for financial year 2019-20 was spent for the new dialysis unit and equipment.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajesh said a comprehensive master plan was prepared for upgrading the medical college hospital to international standards. The ₹500-crore project would be funded by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. The master plan envisages new super-speciality block, renovated cardiology department, state-of-the-art trauma care facility in the emergency department and a full-fledged dialysis unit with 60 dialysis machines.
He also said that there were cases of patients returning untreated because of the shortage of dialysis machines at the hospital. Since the government takeover of the medical college, the number of patients with kidney ailments reaching the hospital had increased, he said adding that the number of existing machines in the hospital was inadequate.
Before the commissioning of the new dialysis unit, there had been 27 machines of which only 18 were now working. The machines became defunct because they were operated round-the-clock. The MLA’s fund had been sanctioned to solve the problem caused by shortage of dialysis units, he added.
District Collector T.V. Subhash presided over the function. Medical College Principal N. Roy, Medical Superintendent M.K. Balachandran, Vice Principal S. Rajeev, and district panchayat vice president P.P. Divya were among those present at the function.