Government homoeo hospital gasping for breath

KOTTAYAM: It brought many to life, but the district Government Homoeo Hospital in Kottayam is looking for a life of its own.The dilapidated building which houses the hospital will be evicted and it has turned out to be a do-or-die situation for the hospital. The administrative officers of the hospital, functioning in a municipality building near Nagambadom private bus stand, have been left in the lurch after they received an eviction notice from the Southern Railways.The Railways had sent the notice to the municipal authorities, giving them three months time to dislodge the tenants as part of its developmental activities. The land will be acquired by the Railways for the expansion of the tracks.The functioning of the hospital comes under the administrative purview of the district panchayat and the authorities concerned are trying their best to resolve the conundrum. “We will take the issue very seriously. We will convene a meeting on Saturday, in which the District Collector, district panchayat standing committee chairman and the hospital superintendent will attend. We will put forth a suggestion to shift the hospital to a rented building for the time being,” said Radha V Nair, district panchayat president.The previous LDF Government had allotted 90 cents of land for building a new complex for the hospital near Nagambadom Bridge. However, the authorities could not start the construction work there as a private timber mill owner had approached the court against construction activities. “The state and Central governments had allocated `2 crore for constructing a new hospital building. However, we could not utilise it as the case is under the consideration of the court. The amount will lapse if it is not used within the stipulated time frame,” Radha V Nair said.The hospital has a capacity of 25 beds and four doctors, including a medical superintendent, to attend to the patients there. An average of 300 outpatients come to the hospital for treatment daily. Two specialty clinics for fibroid uterus and renal calculi function at the hospital twice a week, where three visiting doctors attend patients.