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Kasaragod’s much-hyped Tata COVID-19 hospital is ready but state yet to allot staff

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KEY STORY

  • It has been 19 days since Tata Group handed over the keys of its COVID-19 hospital to the government, but it’s yet to start functioning.
  • On September 10, the Tata Group handed over the keys of its newly built hospital in Kasaragod district, proposed to be used for COVID-19 care, to the Kerala government. Tata has kept its promise, and completed the construction in five months.
  • It has been 19 days since this development, but the hospital is yet to open its doors to the COVID-19 patients.
  • The much-hyped hospital building in Thekkil village, near Chattanchal of Kasaragod, remains there on the hilltop, still waiting for a start.
  • When this reporter visited the hospital, barring a few staff from the Tata Group who are finishing the documentation works, the entire premises wore a deserted look.
  • Inside the hospital, one can spot neatly built cabins, strong iron cots in the rooms with at least two air conditioners, separate cupboards for each bed and attached bathrooms for each room. In some rooms, the plastic covering of many new beds is yet to be opened.
  • In other sections, there are rooms for Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and ventilator facilities. There are also single rooms for isolation purpose. In total, the hospital, which was built at approximately Rs 60 crore, provides 540 beds.
  • All that is required now to start this COVID-19 hospital are the medical infrastructure as well as the medical professionals and other staff.
  • “But don’t you know that this is Kasaragod! It will take ages for this hospital to start functioning,” a person who lives near the hospital remarked.
  • Yes, the health sector in this district has been and is still panting, even as the whole state is focusing on this sector now, and despite the growing number of COVID-19 cases. In fact, the prevailing absence of strong health infrastructure in Kasaragod reared its ugly head with the onset of COVID-19.
  • A total of 3,705 coronavirus cases have been reported in Kasaragod in September alone. A total of 2,295 patients are currently under treatment.

Proposal for medical personnel yet to be cleared

  • It was on April 6 that the Chief Minister and Revenue Minister E Chandrashekharan announced that the Tata Group will set up a specialty hospital in Kasaragod in three months. District Collector Sajith Babu also announced that the project will be completed at the earliest after handing over the appropriate land in the district.
  • According to the office of the Kasaragod District Medical Officer (DMO), the Tata Group had put forth two proposals to the Health Department. In the first proposal, Tata detailed the required medical personnel and equipment for a multispecialty hospital in Kasaragod.
  • There was no response to first proposal, In second proposal they  turn the building into an exclusive COVID-19 hospital instead, which required lesser equipment and staff.
  • There was allegedly no response for the second proposal for medical personnel and the Finance Department, too, is yet to sanction it.

Why there is a severe shortage of staff

  • A senior doctor from the district, who chose to remain anonymous, said that the shortage of staff is the biggest challenge in Kasaragod’s health sector.
  • “There are vacancies for more than 60 doctors in the district hospital. This was never filled before COVID-19 or when it struck. As a result, the situation has turned worse,” he said, adding that the district needs over 100 doctors more to help contain the crisis.
  • Dr Shameen Kattathadka, a doctor from Kasaragod, said that the root cause of the scarcity of doctors in the district is that many don’t want to live in Kasaragod because it lacks other facilities.
  • “First of all, there are only very few doctors who are from our own district. And, doctors from other southern districts do not want to settle down here because there are no good schools or other facilities in Kasaragod. So, if there should be more doctors in Kasaragod, the education sector should be equally boosted,” he said.
  • The senior doctor mentioned above also added that only half of the appointed doctors actually join duty while many take a transfer.

 

  • United diagnosticss

    United diagnosticss

 

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