AGARTALA, June 24(TIWN): Tripura Health Minister Badal Choudhury on Tuesday said following a visit at GB Hospital in Agartala that treatment system practiced in the apex hospital would have to largely change to match the current practices of healthcare. Speaking to reporters at the hospital after a visit in all wards and operation theatres of GB Hospital here today, Health Minister Choudhury said he interacted with patients, relatives, nurses and medical officers on duty at the hospital.

“They said that the treatment system would have to be changed. We shall stress on training of medical personnel and further modernization of the healthcare facilities”, Choudhury said. Asked about his take on the current status of implementation of existing facilities at the hospital, Health Minister Choudhury said that there was gap in implementation in many aspects. “There are gapin many issues as far as implementation comes in question.

This is also a truth that the GB Hospital is overcrowded and is currently housing over 800 patients against an installed intake capacity of 500 patients”, the minister stated. A total of thirteen patients confirmed to have contacted malaria are currently reported to be undergoing treatment at GB Hospital as referral patients from different hospitals across sub-divisions and blocks of the state. Six among them are being treated in the paediatric section, five in the medicine ward, one each in orthopaedic and surgical ward. Speaking about inputs from the central malaria expert team during their visits in distant villages of the state, Choudhury today said that the expert delegation ruled out the proposition of ‘malaria epidemic’ situation in Tripura.

“They have informed us that it was an outbreak which spread over a sizeable area. This can’t, however, be termed as epidemic”, he added. The central team comprising of Additional Director of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program Dr. Avadhesh Kumar, Regional Director (Malaria) Dr. Satyabrata Sen and entomologist Dr. Sukhvir Singh visited interior villages in Gandacherra sub-division on Monday. The team is reported to be visiting areas in Longtraivalley sub-division on Tuesday.