Vellore medical college hospital begins stress relief session for nurses

“The session, which will be held five days a week, will cover all nursing staff. We plan the same for all hospital workers, while doctors have been advised to be stress-free,” she said, adding that housewives too are counselled to follow practices to alleviate stress.

With a bed strength of 1,500, the hospital located at Adukkamparai, eight km from Vellore town on Tiruvannamalai Highway, has a daily out-patient strength of 2,500. However, contrary to the usual picture of cramped wards and dirty environs, the facility appeared clean as was seen by this reporter during a recent visit. However, it was the recently-opened TAEI (TN Accident Emergency Initiative) in the hospital that came in for praise from the locals.

TAEI treats paediatric emergencies, burns and infectious diseases like diarrhoea. “When patients collapsed after admission or before being shifted to the ward, doctors treated patients quickly to stablisie their condition. This helped them win the trust of locals,” said former AIADMK MLA J Parandhaman who is also a medical practitioner.

“Vellore may be the only district HQ town with three major hospitals including CMC, the downgraded government Pentland Taluk hospital, earlier the original district HQ hospital – the Wallajahpet hospital, now the district HQ hospital – and the government medical college hospital” Parandhaman said.

College officials have now approached the State government for a separate block to house the burns ward on the ground floor while the upper floors be reserved for super specialities. “The number of floors will be in proportion to the super specialty departments that come in,” a hospital source said.

Meanwhile a Rs 4.5-crore Cath lab was inaugurated a few months ago. It is expected to become fully operational by the end of this month. Presently, one batch of six medical personnel have been trained at CMC with the next one planning to be trained soon.

“Once operational, it will function one day a week as there is only an associate professor and an assistantprofessor (cardiology) who have to handle the lab in addition to their other duties. We expect to get a cardio-thoracic professional only after the government is satisfied with the lab’s performance,” sources said.

The hospital does not have many vacancies as government counselling ensures that posts are filled up regularly. “The present PG batch, who pass out will also be placed in hospitals soon to ensure that service to people is not affected,” sources revealed.