New building of SAT Hospital should be put to proper use

The Sree Avittam Thirunal SAT Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram was established during the reign of Sree Chitra Thirunal Maharaja. The untimely death of Prince Avittam Thirunal, son of Colonel Godavarma Raja, known as the sculptor of Kerala, at the age of six, is what led to the decision to establish a hospital exclusively for women and children under that name. The book 'Kerala Chikilsa Charithram' written by Dr P Vinayachandran states that the land acquired for this purpose, where the hospital now stands, was a land associated with the family of the Renaissance hero Dr Palpu. The foundation stone of the hospital was laid by the Governor of Madras, Sir Arthur Hope, on July 13, 1945. After the formation of the Thiru-Cochin state, the then Union Health Minister, Princess Amrit Kaur, inaugurated the hospital on January 8, 1952.

The hospital was built to accommodate 140 children and 200 women at a time. It was a large hospital for that time. Later, it grew into the most famous hospital in India for obstetrics and paediatrics, a centre of care for ordinary women and children. Today, SAT is a hospital that performs more than a thousand deliveries, more than three thousand caesareans and more than two thousand major surgeries related to gynaecology every year. It was decided to build a new block when it became the most overwhelmed hospital due to the rush of people coming for treatment. NHM built a three-storey building at a cost of thirty crores and inaugurated it nine years ago.

The top two floors of this building are still vacant. The ground floor is used for the gynaecology OP. Although the upper floors have been equipped with a labour room and an ICU, it is believed that the reason they are not being used is because there is no one to question this. The labour room and life-saving equipment for newborns, which were installed at a cost of crores, are rusting and deteriorating. Since it has been two years since the installation of the most advanced machines, the warranty has also expired. Two floors have been left vacant when people are sleeping on the verandah due to overcrowding in the current old block. The new building is being wasted on the lame excuse that there is no ramp to connect it to the old block.

If there is no ramp, necessary steps should be taken to build it. If that is not possible, a replacement system should be put in place. The situation is like buying an elephant and saying that there is no money to buy a goad. This is also a building that was inaugurated by Oommen Chandy and Pinarayi Vijayan twice. The Health Minister should not allow such a building to lie like this. If a hospital building built with public sector money is left to sit idle without benefiting anyone, it will only be helpful to private hospitals. Especially in this day and age when lakhs are spent on obstetric surgeries and other medical needs.