Thiruvananthapuram: Digital mammogram unit to be set up in govt hospital

Thiruvananthapuram: Rotary Club of Trivandrum Kowdiar (RCOTK) is in the final phase of installing a digital mammogram unit at government-run District Model Hospital Peroorkada for mass screening.

It is the only digital unit coming in a government hospital at a total expenditure of Rs 1.08 crore. As they cannot afford a radiologist of its own as the cost will increase, they have sought the help of the health minister K. K. Shailaja to appoint a doctor on deputation.

The digital mammogram unit will be ready at room numbers 49 and 50 on the basement floor in a month. If not for the slight delay for the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) certification from Mumbai, the unit would have been functional by now.

RCOTK themselves will set up and maintain the unit to sustain operational efficiency.

 This includes the salary of five support staff (two radiographers, a female office secretary cum counsellor and two attenders) as well and taking care of the entire expenses.

A nominal fee of Rs 500 - Rs 800 will be collected from patients depending on the category they belong to. This is nominal compared to what the private hospitals have been charging Rs 3500, and even in Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), it costs Rs 1450 with several months of waiting.

"We are keen to get a radiologist from health services," said Dr P. Mangalanandan, a senior cardiologist and chairman-president, RCOTK.

"Already, the digital mammogram unit has reached Bengaluru, and by the time it is set up, we wish to see the radiologist on board."

He also added that as a second phase, ultrasound scanner would also be set up including its care as it is considered as parallel biomedical equipment along with the digital mammogram unit.

Dr Mangalanandan, who is a senior cardiologist with a leading private hospital at Pattom here, is expecting 30 cases per day. Peroorkada hospital treats more than 2000 outpatients daily, and with 330 plus in-patients at a time, they never had a mammography unit.

Currently, patients who require mammogram are referred to Medical College Hospital (MCH) or RCC. The digital unit at the RCC does 120 mammograms per month where most of the work is diagnostic rather than screening.

The radiodiagnosis department at the MCH has an analogue mammography machine which is also used to do diagnostic mammography rather than screening.