Trauma centre, cardiac catheterisation lab & opioid substitution therapy centre inaugurated at hospital
By Our Reporter
TURA, March 16: The Tura Civil Hospital on Saturday received a much-needed revamp after a Trauma Centre and a state-of-art Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, which is first of its kind in a government hospital, along with an Opioid Substitution Therapy Centre were inaugurated by Tura MP Agatha K Sangma.
In her address, she expressed her gratitude to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Ram Kumar, and team of officials from Tura Civil Hospital for the success of the initiative.
She further mentioned that due to the urgency of ensuring that these three centres start immediately to cater to patients, she expressed hope that these facilities are fully utilised and would benefit the people of the region in particular.
“Many have lost their lives due to the lack of these centres and we hope this will change the entire health scenario and provide better health facilities and life-saving interventions, especially to patients with heart ailments,” said Agatha.
Further, the MP mentioned that many Public Health Centres of the region have been upgraded along with Maternity and Child Hospitals from 50-bedded to 100-bedded hospital with many more developmental activities taking place to benefit the people of the region.
In his keynote address, Superintendent-cum-Joint Director, DHS, Tura Civil Hospital, West Garo Hills Dr. IC Marak highlighted the high-end multiple facilities being inaugurated at the hospital.
He said that the Opioid Substitution Therapy Centre (OST) is a centrally sponsored scheme under the National Aids Control Programme and a first-of-its-kind treatment centre in the entire Garo Hills region. The facility would provide treatment for victims of IV drug users such as users of morphine, etc.
He reiterated that the OST Centre was a treatment procedure through which high opium dependent drug users would be provided with long acting opioid agonist medication for a long period of time under medical supervision along with psycho-social interventions.
Speaking about the Trauma Centre, he said that this was a long-pending project which started in 2018 and informed that this is a Level Three Trauma Centre, a Government of India initiative, especially for those cities and towns which are located under National Highway and would be looked after by a team of Medical Officers, Nurses and other supporting staff.
Mentioning about the first-of-its-kind Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, Dr IC Marak said that this is a treatment facility for cardiac patients. He further informed that numerous facilities such as angiography, angioplasty, pace-makers, can treat congenital heart disease, heart replacement therapy, pulmonary hypertension, etc can be treated here.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Jagdish Chelani, on the other hand, said that making Tura Civil Hospital as a One-Stop Centre for healthcare facilities would ensure better and improved facilities which are available for all the people of Garo Hills region.
Meanwhile, the Project Director, Meghalaya Aids Control Society (MACS), Shillong, Dr. B Decruse informed that the OST Centre is the only centre set up for the entire Garo Hills region.
He added that this centre would cater to the drug users . Mentioning that Meghalaya is one state in India with increasing trend in HIV infections and stands at 0.39 percent which is higher than the national average of 0.21 percent, she said that the figures are alarming and therefore mapping exercise are being conducted among various types of persons like female sex workers, people injecting drugs, etc to keep a check and address the issues in the area.
On the occasion, Agatha unveiled the plaque for the Trauma Centre, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Opioid Substitution Therapy Centre at the hospital.