Cath lab inaugurated at Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruvannamalai

Collector Vandana Garg inaugurated a catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) at the Department of Cardiology in Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruvannamalai to provide timely treatment for patients, especially from below poverty line (BPL) families.

Health officials said that the new facility has 20 beds for men and women. A team of doctors, staff nurses, and medical staff will take care of the facility, which will function up to 3 p.m., on all days, including Sundays.

Health officials said that the laboratory, which covers around 1,500 sq. ft., was built at a cost of ₹10 crore. The new facility will help with interventional cardiac procedures, including angiograms, angioplasties, and pacemaker implantation, free of cost under various government insurance schemes, including beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).

The new facility will help prevent cardiac patients in the district from going to Chennai and Pondicherry, where the facility is available. On average, the hospital gets 60-70 patients with cardiac problems every month. Of this, around 50 patients, who were affected with STEMI (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction), were provided thrombolysis in the hospital.

Collector Ms. Garg also inspected various facilities and civic amenities available for patients in the hospital in the presence of M. Jayalall, dean, M. Malathi, medical superintendent, and R. Kannan, Head, Department of Cardiology of the hospital.