KOCHI: The slew of inaugurations at the fag end of the tenure of the Oommen Chandy government has failed to salvage the Kochi Cancer Centre with the scheduled inauguration of the Out-Patient (OP) wing of the centre by the end of February not happening before the declaration of the Assembly election dates.
With the election code of conduct coming into force last Friday, the inauguration will have to wait the swearing in of the next government. The Special Officer Dr Asha Thomas who was tasked with the construction of the OP wing issued a press note on February 25 stating that the work on the building for the OP wing at the Ernakulam Government Medical College had completed by the day. The same day the State Cabinet cleared creation of 31 posts the cancer centre.
However, the State Government in its wisdom decided to put off the inauguration since the deployment of the staff and equipment for the cancer centre could not be conducted so far. It is believed that the government, after the much criticised inauguration of Smart City, CIAL international terminal and Kannur airport, decided in its wisdom not to inaugurate the OP building with empty rooms and no staff. The completed building now remains locked.
"The posts will have to be advertised and it is to be seen how many specialists will show the willingness to join an OP wing of a cancer centre which may risk their career. One option is to deploy RCC staff on deputation. The equipment too have to be deployed. There has been a lack of involvement on the part of the Health Minister to realize the Kochi Cancer Centre which went up to not realizing the OP wing before the elections," said Dr N K Sanil Kumar, a member of the Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement.
