Super specialty block of Thoothukudi government hospital renamed

The super specialty block of Thoothukudi Government Medical College Hospital (TKMCH), which has come up at Third Mile on an outlay of ₹136.35 crore and awaiting inauguration, has been renamed as Government Super Specialty Hospital for Maternity and Child Health due to the large number of obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatric cases coming to the hospital.

Under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram’, the hospital was sanctioned the super specialty block with 687 beds spread on seven floors at the cost of ₹136.35 crore. Of this, ₹16 crore would be spent for procuring hi-tech diagnostic and surgical equipment, while the civil work would be completed on an outlay of ₹118.35 crore. The total amount of ₹136.35 crore would be shared by the Union and State Governments on 60:40 ratio.

Since the hospital received more number of obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatric cases throughout the year, the super specialty block was rechristened by the Tamil Nadu Government as Government Super Specialty Hospital for Maternity and Child Health.

The decision initially triggered a hue and cry among a section of doctors of the hospital and the super specialty aspirants, who complained that the government’s decision to dedicate the new block exclusively for maternity and child health would destroy their dreams of doing super specialty programmes (DM or M.Ch.) at TKMCH.

“Since the super specialty block got sanctioned, I started preparation for a super specialty course with the hope of doing it in my native district itself. Now, this decision has denied me a golden opportunity,” said a woman doctor with a postgraduate medical degree and serving in a government hospital.

However, a section of senior doctors of the hospital justify the government’s decision by providing statistics on patients received by each department since 2022: 1,76,774 obstetrics and gynaecology, 1,45,816 paediatric medicine and 8,506 paediatric surgery out-patients since 2022 to take the total number of out-patients who came to the three branches alone to 3,31,096. In other words, the hospitalhad received 6,897.80 obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatric medicine and paediatric surgery cases on an average every month.

The number of in-patients treated at TKMCH by the three branches since 2022 was still higher. The hospital had taken care of 3,61,750 obstetrics and gynaecology, 88,775 paediatric medicine and 11,389 paediatric surgery in-patients to put the total number of in-patients from the three branches at a staggering 4,61,914 since 2022. On an average, the hospital had admitted 9,623.21 in-patients every month over the past four years.

At the same time, the number of out-patients received in nephrology, medical oncology, neuro medicine, radio oncology, medical gastroenterology, neuro surgery, urology, plastic surgery and surgical oncology departments since 2022 was only 2,49,419, with the monthly average of 5,196 patients and the number of in-patients treated at TKMCH in all the nine departments put together since 2022 at 1,38,182 with the monthly average of 2,878 patients.

“Since the patients from neighbouring districts such as Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar or Sivaganga requiring medical intervention from the nine departments either go to Madurai or Tirunelveli, both having super specialty facilities. Hence, the number of these patients coming to TKMCH is much lower. At the same time, the patient inflow at obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatric medicine departments is much higher. So, to ensure better care for these patients, the super specialty block has been dedicated to these departments. Since two age-old rapidly crumbling buildings on Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital premises are ready for demolition, these structures may be razed down to give way for a new seven-storey building where all these departments’ super specialty facilities may be created in future for starting super specialty courses,” said a senior doctor of TKMCH.