Health Minister meets fire accident victims

CHENNAI: The medical staff at Kilpauk Medical College Government Hospital were subjected to a surprise inspection by the State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr VS Vijay, on Wednesday. Dr Vijay had actually come to the hospital to visit four women who were badly burned in a fire accident at a matchstick factory in Gudiyattam, Vellore district. The women were among nine persons injured in the accident on Tuesday night. These four eves were referred to Kilpauk Medical College GH because of the critical status of their burns. Accompanying Dr Vijay was State Minister for Labour Welfare, ST Chellapandian and KV Kuppam MLA SK Tamilarasan.They met the victims Bagiyavathy (25), Kavitha (27), Mahalakshmi (30) and Saroja (35) and inquired about their current state. KMC Medical Superintendent Dr R Sukumar said, “At present, their state is critical but we are hopeful that all four will make a recovery.” Vijay, a former government doctor himself, examined the medical records of the victims and discussed their current status with the duty doctor. The minister enforced the need to extend the best possible care and treatment to the victims because all of them were apparently young mothers. All of them also happen to hail from the Vellore district, whose assemble constituency Vijay happens to also be the MLA of.After meeting the patients, the minister decided to conduct an inspection of the premises and facilities there. He also wanted to know about the progress in the construction of two new buildings at a cost of `30 crore. As only a few internal components need to be completed, Vijay urged the Public Works Department (PWD) to expedite the process and hand over the building soon. While the first building will house a 24x7 casualty block, blood bank and central testing lab, the second building has been designed to house all the departments attached to out-patient care.While inspecting other wards and departments such as radiology, the blood bank, surgical wards and casualty, the Minister paid special attention to two new machines that are being installed at the hospital.  “We have a new digital X-Ray apparatus and mammogram that have been installed but are still not fully operational. The minister has asked that we finish the testing and make it available to the public as soon as possible. ”