T’puram: The state govt will mobilise CSR funds, in addition to budgetary allocations, to improve infrastructure in govt hospitals, health minister K Muraleedharan said while unveiling the health department’s 50-day progress report.Launching the report, titled Fifty Remarkable Days of the Health Department, at the Govt Medical College here on Saturday, the minister said the department was working on the principle that treatment, medicines and hospital beds are the basic rights of every patient.As part of efforts to ease overcrowding, 200 additional beds have been made available by reopening wards at Pulayanarkotta hospital. Similar measures are being implemented across govt medical colleges, while new buildings will be constructed on land already acquired for the Kozhikode and Kottayam medical colleges. Vacant wards will also be utilized to admit more patients, and a statewide study will assess space constraints to facilitate further expansion of bed capacity.Muraleedharan said specialist doctors would be posted only in hospitals equipped with specialized facilities. The govt also plans to facilitate house surgeon training for medical graduates who studied abroad and streamline the registration process for nursing graduates from institutions outside Kerala.On the proposed AIIMS in Kerala, the minister said the state would submit details of multiple potential sites to Centre to prevent delays arising from local disputes over location.Among other initiatives, land owned by KSEB at Mananthavady will be utilized for expansion of Wayanad medical college. The govt also plans to establish a super-speciality hospital at Madakkimala in Kalpetta on land donated by the family of late MP M P Veerendra Kumar, while a master plan will be prepared to upgrade infrastructure at Parippally medical college.The minister said the proposed Institute of Genetic Rehabilitation Centre would strengthen medical education and research facilities in the state. He also highlighted ongoing efforts to prevent infectious diseases, including Nipah, through intensified sanitation and waste management measures, adding that a yellow fever vaccination centre in Thiruvananthapuram is nearing completion.The report also highlights key initiatives launched during the govt’s first 50 days, including the Thudakkam hospital cleanliness campaign, under which around 50 truckloads of waste were removed from Thiruvananthapuram govt medical college, and a statewide ‘Dry Day’ campaign to curb mosquito-borne diseases through coordinated cleaning drives.Under the Kayakalpam programme, the govt announced infrastructure projects including a virtual autopsy facility at Kozhikode medical college, the upgradation of Thamarassery taluk hospital, a mobile tribal health unit at Perambra, and major healthcare improvements in Wayanad, including the district’s first MRI facility and new radiology and laboratory services, he said.
