The Health and Family Welfare Department’s heart attack (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction - STEMI) management project, ‘Puneeth Rajkumar Hrudaya Jyothi Scheme’, will be made available across all taluks in the State, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao in Mangaluru on Friday.

Speaking at a programme organised at Kudmul Ranga Rao Town Hall, Mr. Rao said the scheme is in force in 78 government hospitals in the State, and as many as 450 lives have been saved so far. The scheme is presently available at Bantwal, Belthangady, and Sullia taluk hospitals in Dakshina Kannada. Facilities will be created at the taluk centres for the testing and early treatment of cardiac problems, he said.

The Minister said the government has sanctioned ₹70 crore for the construction of a new OPD block of the Government Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru in two phases. In the first phase, ground plus two floors will be constructed at a cost of ₹35 crore. Tenders will shortly be floated for the second phase of the project. As part of the project, a bridge will be constructed to connect the new OPD block with the medicine block of the hospital, he said.

Medical Superintendent of Wenlock Hospital D.S. Shivaprakash said that with the new block, all the OPD services will be available to patients in one building.

The Minister also laid the foundation stone for the construction of a 500 KLD capacity liquid waste treatment plant at the Wenlock hospital. He lauded the MRPL for donating ₹10 crore for the construction of a 76-bed general ward and other improvements on the 4th and 5th floors of the hospital’s medicine block. Mr. Rao said shortly the government will upgrade the Wenlock hospital to the status of a Regional Multi-Speciality Hospital.

Four endo care centres

Mr. Rao said four new day care centres for endosulfan victims will start functioning from June 1 in Dakshina Kannada.

The new centres will come up in the government hospital premises in Panaje of Puttur taluk, Kaniyuru of Belthangady taluk, Vitla in Bantwal taluk, and Bellare of Sullia taluk. Two day care centres are already functioning in Kokkada and Koila villages.

Apart from skill training, the endosulfan victims will get physiotherapy, special education, and other facilities at the new centres. The government has released ₹1.26 crore towards the maintenance of the four new centres, he said.

The foundation stone was laid for the construction of 141 Arogya and Kshema Sub Health Centres in the district. Of these, 104 centres will be constructed using funds from the 15th Finance Commission, while 87 centres will be constructed using funds from the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission. Two sub-centres are already functional, the Minister said.