Three private hospitals in Silchar join hands to roll out Cath Lab; "Historical Moment," they say

Another important feather added to the field of healthcare service in Barak Valley. A non-government cath lab (catheterization laboratory) has commenced its journey for the first in Silchar. This is the first such lab in the entire Barak valley, cath labs are necessary for the treatments of heart ailments. The cath lab – Trideb Institute of Cardia Science is going to be inaugurated on May 3 at Beltola Meherpur. Hopefully, now the emergency patients with chronic chest pain need not be taken to Shillong NEIGRIHMS, or to Guwahati.

The cath lab is being established with the initiative of Green Heals Hospital in association of South City and Valley Hospital. On Monday director of Green Heals Rudra Narayan Gupta, Mridul Mazumder of South City, Sutapa Bhattacharjee, and Nityananda Goala of Valley hospital held a press conference and announced the inauguration of this cath lab.

“The cath lab will be a historical moment for the health sector of Barak Valley, due to the lack and scarcity of infrastructure, our doctors had nothing to do so far. Even the best of doctors couldn’t do anything as there were no cath labs. But Rudra Narayan Gupta has brought our dream to reality, we (three hospitals) will be providing the service from now,” Mridul Mazumder said in the press conference.

The lab has already started functioning though it will be officially inaugurated on May 3rd. On Sunday, angiography has been performed on a patient named Imrana Sultana, she is the first patient to be tested in this lab. A total of six angiographies have been done by Monday. Three stents have been placed and two angioplasties have also been done. Two cardiologists – Dr. D. Das Das and A. Laskar – are there in the lab along with a specialized team of medical technicians, machine engineer was also present during the first angiography.

“The preparation for the cath lab has been on board for three or four years, but the COVID Pandemic deferred all the processes. We had to pause the project,” said Rudra Narayan Gupta. “We needed cardiologists but they were not interested as there was no cath lab, we ordered the cath lab equipment at the end of 2021. Our primary focus is on infrastructure, specialist physicians, and an experienced technician team. We decided to work together,” Gupta added.

The most significant factor is that now a patient will be able to diagnose just at the right time, which will help in treating the patient at the earliest. This facility wasn’t available so far in Barak Valley. So far the heart patients had to be rushed to hospitals in Shillong or in Guwahati, a lot of valuable time was lost on transportation. The cath lab will now save valuable time for the needy patient. 10-15 minutes time will be required for angiography and each day at least 15-20 tests will be done.

“We had accepted the offer of Cath Lab at once they came with the offer, this is indeed a historical moment for Barak Valley,” said Sutapa Bhattacharjee. The lab will start functioning in full swing in a week or two. Almost all the equipment has been brought to the lab. “We will be able to perform bypass surgery in Silchar within the next seven to eight months. We have also taken a bunch of initiatives to excel the infrastructure. We have followed all the government guidelines and instructions regarding the lab,” Sutapa Bhattacharjee said in the press conference.