Keralam Health Minister K. Muraleedharan
The State government will revise the staff pattern in all government hospitals, from primary health centres to medical colleges, Health and Devaswom Minister K. Muraleedharan said on Thursday.
He was inaugurating a range of development projects worth ₹16 crore and launching new services at Government Medical College, Thrissur, completed as part of the State government’s 100-day action programme. “The existing staff pattern is based on norms from the 1960s,” the Minister said, adding that efforts were now under way to recruit more doctors.
He also said that the shortage of medicines in government hospitals would be resolved this month. “Patients should not be made to suffer because of a lack of medicines. The government is committed to ensuring better facilities in public hospitals, which remain a major source of health care for ordinary people.”
The Minister said the newly commissioned MRI facility at the Thrissur medical college would be particularly beneficial to poor patients. More medical colleges would soon get similar facilities, he added.
Youth Affairs and Sports Minister O.J. Janeesh said the completion of buildings currently under construction at the medical college would further increase its inpatient capacity.
New facilities
Among the major facilities inaugurated were a 10-bed stroke care unit built at a cost of ₹4.73 crore, a 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner costing ₹10 crore, a renovated neonatal intensive care unit with an allocation of ₹1.2 crore, and an expanded central medical gas and oxygen plant costing ₹7.85 lakh.
The Minister also launched a pain and palliative home-visit service, an onco-rehabilitation clinic, and ‘Sugamam’, a crowdfunding initiative for procuring medical equipment. The efforts of the Pediatrics department, which received the Centre’s Muskaan national recognition, and the Transfusion Medicine (Blood Bank) department, which received national recognition for blood donation services, came in for praise.
CSR initiatives
Individuals and institutions that supported the medical college through various CSR initiatives were honoured at the function. District Collector Shikha Surendran received documents related to various CSR projects.
The programme, held at the Medical College Alumni Auditorium, was presided over by Xavier Chittilappilly, MLA. K. Radhakrishnan, MP, Thrissur Mayor Niji Justin; Puzhakkal block panchayat president Lakshmi Viswambharan; and other elected representatives, officials and medical college authorities attended.
Published – September 24, 2026 08:19 pm IST
