Better treatment on way at SSG, courtesy CSR funds

Vadodara: Patients at SSG Hospital can look forward to receiving better medical treatment in near future, thanks to some modern facilities being created with the help of CSR funds provided by the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited (GETCO).
With Rs 4.21 crore given by GETCO, there will be a facility that will detect common congenital disorders in newborns, a laboratory to detect sleep disorders among patients, and a system that will provide results of blood test of patients suffering from severe ailments within a couple of hours.
The grant includes Rs 1.41 crore for Department of Biochemistry, Rs 1.23 crore for Department of Medicine, Rs 50.40 lakh for the Department of Neurosurgery, Rs 9.44 lakh for Department of Dentistry, and Rs 8.07 lakh for Department of Respiratory Medicine. The total budget sanctioned for revamping and introducing new medical facilities stands at Rs 3.82 crore with 10% contingency amounting to a total of Rs 4.21 crore.
“We had carried out need-based assessment of departments and decided our hospital’s priorities. We wanted to cover those areas which are not covered under the state budget so that we can make our services at par with corporate hospitals. GETCO was kind enough to sanction all our demands under the CSR activity,” said Dr Ranjan Aiyer, medical superintendent of SSG Hospital, adding that the purchase process will be done by GETCO.
The Department of Biochemistry will be equipped with advanced DELFIA-based immunoassay analyzer for newborn screening. In this equipment, a very small blood spot of newborn baby will be taken on a special filter paper by heel puncture and testing will be done to rule out common congenital metabolic disorders. The cost of this test is around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 in corporate hospitals.
“But this will be done free of cost at our hospital,” said Aiyer, adding that currently this service is not available in any government hospital in Gujarat.
Similarly, the Department of Respiratory Medicine will be equipped with a sleep study (polysomnography) laboratory which will help investigate sleep-related disorders of patients. The cost of sleep studies in private set-ups is in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 but at SSG Hospital, patients will be able to undergo the tests at nominal rates.
The microbiology department will be equipped with automated blood culture system which will make testing of blood samples of serious patients easy apart from automated bacterial and fungal identification and sensitivity testing that will help identification of bacteria and fungus and sensitivity of patients towards drugs used for its treatment.
The department will also get a line probe assay that will provide test results of patients suffering from severe ailments like TB within six hours. Currently, the test results take 3 to 6 months.