Though understaffed, Kattappana taluk hospital manages to complete 25 joint replacement surgeries

Serious manpower shortage and facilities await to be addressed at the hospital that could be a referral centre for people in the hill region

The Government Taluk Hospital at Kattappana, Idukki, is an example of how a public health facility could be the solace of many only if steps are taken for its proper upkeep and updation.

The hospital has reached out to people beyond it means and mode to complete 25 joint replacement surgeries from May 2022 to February 2023 that includes 23 total knee replacements and two total hip replacement surgeries.

An Orthopedic Surgeon, Jishanth B. James, led the team that did the record number of surgeries within the duration. According to Dr. James, people used to earlier depend on Kottayam Medical College and other private hospitals for joint replacement surgeries. “Private hospitals charge ₹2 to 2.5 lakh for a joint replacement surgery. However, in this hospital, the surgeries were done under the Karunya Benevolent scheme free of cost,” he says.

These record surgeries were done even when the hospital is in dire need for better infrastructure and manpower to such an extent that it does not have an anaesthetist despite there being an operation theatre in the hospital. For performing the 25 surgeries, services of the Tom George, Anaesthetist from Peermadu taluk hospital, was sought once a week.

The need for better infrastructure and manpower cannot be overlooked any more, according to experts. “Hospital such as the one in Kattappana should be the first referral point for all medical specialties. But here, there is only provision for one medico each in the Orthopaedic and ENT specialty, two in Paediatrics, and four in the Casualty section. Of this, one Casualty Medical Officer post is vacant,” said Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) Idukki district president Ansal Nabi.

Similarly, there is no allotment for Surgery and Gynaecology specialties or for a Forensic Surgeon post to do a post-mortem examination, he says. The hospital is a 50-bedded one and a dialysis unit was started here recently, which also does not have enough trained medical staff.

There is a grave need for vacant posts to be filled urgently and creation of new ones as per the hospital standardisation guidelines not just in the taluk hospital but in all the major hospitals in Idukki, says Dr Nabi.