Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said the strides made by Ernakulam General Hospital (GH) in the field of public health were exemplary and that the State government’s goal was to elevate government hospitals to a level where they could compete with and surpass private hospitals. He was speaking after inaugurating various development projects at the hospital and handing over new equipment.

The Minister inaugurated a walkway with a tensile roof connecting the casualty block and the super-specialty block, a yard development and drainage project aimed at preventing waterlogging during the rainy season, and the Gastroenterology department. An endoscopy theatre, set up for the Gastroenterology department using corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, was also inaugurated. The Minister also honoured Dr. T. Paulose George, who has been providing free services in the Gastroenterology department.

Mr. Muraleedharan announced a year-long campaign titled ‘Tharatt’ to educate mothers and the public about the importance of breastfeeding and promote the concept of breast milk banks.

“The district hospital has successfully carried out complex procedures such as heart and kidney transplants. Its free food distribution programme, which provides healthy meals prescribed by doctors, can be considered a model,” he said.

The Minister further said that the State government would provide all necessary assistance if the old building of the Kochi Corporation was spared for the development of the GH, which is facing space constraints.

He added that necessary steps would be taken to operationalise the K. Karunakaran Memorial Medical College and the Haripad Super Speciality Medical Institute.

The Minister said the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society had been instructed to complete the remaining construction work at the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, and that an emergency meeting would be called soon to address deficiencies at the Cochin Cancer Research Centre.

District-level adalats have been started to address shortcomings in the Health department. The adalats have been completed in Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kottayam, and the one in Ernakulam will be held soon, he said.