The Kerala Institute of Organ and Tissue Transplant is likely to start functioning from a temporary facility at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, by this month-end.

According to official sources, it will offer renal, liver, and bone marrow transplant surgeries in the initial phase. The facility will be located at the PMSSY block of the hospital. The sources said that the operation theatre and other arrangements are all ready. The ward there will have at least 20 beds.

Meanwhile, the official work ahead of constructing a new building at the Government Dermatology Hospital premises in Chevayur is moving at a slow pace. The building is coming up on a 20-acre plot. The foundation stone laid there on February 7 had already been removed. The dermatology hospital authorities are apparently clueless about when the work will begin. It is learnt that transfer of land ownership may be required before it.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the model code of conduct for the Assembly polls came into force before the last date for submitting tenders for the construction of the building. The tender committee would have to meet again and choose the lowest bidder now. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) had cleared ₹643.88 crore for the project. Around ₹300 crore had been earmarked for the first phase.

The Health department authorities had earlier claimed that the procedures to buy equipment for the institute were already on. In the first phase, a 350-bed facility with an intensive care unit, dialysis centre, high dependency unit, and 10 operation theatres will be set up. The institute will have 14 speciality departments and divisions.