'Surgeries in Sree Chitra will resume within two days'; MoS Suresh Gopi makes crucial intervention

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi intervened in the predicament circling Sree Chitra Institute where surgeries in the Interventional Radiology department were postponed due to the non-availability of equipment.

Suresh Gopi ensured that steps would be taken within a week to purchase equipment and surgeries would resume within two days.

MoS Suresh Gopi will apprise the details to Prime Minister's Office. The Union Minister, who arrived at Sree Chitra, called an emergency meeting to assess the situation. Sree Chitra Director Dr. Sanjay Behari and other department heads attended the meeting. Five emergency surgeries scheduled to be performed at Sree Chitra today have been postponed. Two diagnostic tests have also been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Youth Congress workers staged a protest at Sree Chitra Institue against the sudden postponement of surgeries. The police, who had come as a pilot for Suresh Gopi, stopped the protesters and locked them inside. Later, Director Dr. Sanjay Behari arrived and held talks with the protesters.

All 15 surgeries scheduled for three days in the Interventional Radiology Department at Sree Chitra Institute have been postponed. The hospital authorities have informed the patients about the same. Patients who were admitted for emergency surgeries are being discharged from the hospital. The issue turned worse after the doctors received no response despite repeatedly requesting companies to provide equipment.

Sree Chitra has not renewed the contract with the companies supplying equipment after 2023. Surgical equipment was provided to the hospital following the old rate. The companies demanded price hikes citing the high cost of foreign-made equipment'.

The foreign equipment needed for interventional radiology will remain elusive if the move is to purchase equipment through 'Gem Portal' as per the central government's directive.