CMRI to focus on prevention

With more and more young people falling prey to heart diseases due to changing lifestyles, the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) has decided to focus on preventive health care.

Over the last two years, the hospital has invested about Rs 20 crore in upgrading the healthcare facilities, with focus on preventive healthcare. In the next few years, the hospital aimed to invest another Rs 10 crore on infrastructure up-gradation, said Rupak Barua, chief operating officer, CMRI.

As part of the preventive heatlthcare infrastructure, five new clinics""the hypertensive clinic, cardiac rehabilitation clinic,chest pain clinic, pacemaker follow up clinic and obesity clinic-- have started functioning in the hospital premises, informed, Pralayesh Chatterjee, consultant cardiologist and physician, CMRI.

The hospital has deiced to shift the nursing college from its existing building to a new campus in order to increase its bed strength. At present, the hospital has about 400 beds.

According to Chatterjee, preventive care in heart care was important, because as many as 60 per cent heart surgeries may require a redo surgery after a period of time.

Chatterjee also the graph for high income group admissions in hospitals was rising steadily in Kolkata.

"The occupancy in super-deluxe rooms in hospitals in Kolkata have increased over the year. The trend is more prominent in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi," he said.