Keralam to roll out 24x7 specialty care at District, General Hospitals

The government is introducing 24x7 specialty services at selected District and General Hospitals to ensure that patients can access specialist care closer to home and without having to rush to medical college hospitals.

The new facilities, to be called Pratheeksha Centres, will provide round-the-clock services in medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics and gynaecology. The government aims to establish at least one such centre in every district, Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said here on Wednesday.

The pilot run of the initiative, which began at Punalur Taluk Hospital on September 1, has evoked good public response, he added. This facility is expected to be full-fledged by September 10 and all shortcomings will be addressed as these are identified.

Mr. Muraleedharan said he had ironed out all differences with government doctors, who he said were willing to take up the 24x7 initiative but were concerned about the huge number of existing vacancies of specialists.