Kerala Minister K Muraleedharan on Sunday said the government had taken steps to end the practice of accommodating patients on the floor in state-run medical college hospitals.
The initiative will first be implemented at the medical colleges in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
Speaking to reporters, the state health minister said that the fever clinic at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, would be shifted to the Pulayanarkotta Chest Disease Hospital as part of the initiative.
Around 200 beds would be arranged at the Pulayanarkotta hospital to accommodate patients, he said.
Muraleedharan said that a new block would be constructed at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode using CSR funds to address overcrowding there.
"Patients are being accommodated on the floor in Kozhikode Medical College as well. There is sufficient space on the campus to set up an additional ward and shift patients there. The objective is to completely do away with the practice of admitting patients on the floor,” he said.
The minister said the initiative was being coordinated under the leadership of the director of medical education and the director of health services.
On Saturday, the health department decided to shift patients from the overcrowded Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to the Pulayanarkotta Chest Hospital to ease congestion and prevent floor admissions.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Muraleedharan and attended by senior officials from the health and medical education departments, as well as the heads of major hospitals in the district.
The issue of patients being accommodated on hospital floors had recently triggered widespread criticism of the health department.
