Pilgrims to get healthcare facility at Sabarimala during monthly puja period

The Hindu A file picture of Sabarimala pilgrims taking bath at Pampa River.
• Sabarimala pilgrims will get healthcare facility at Pampa and Appachimedu on the Pampa-Sannidhanam trekking path during the five-day monthly puja period from August 17, first day in the Malayalam month of Chingom.
• Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi, and the Lakshmi Group of Hospitals in Ernakulam has come forward to provide the facility.
• AIMS team headed by Mohanachandran Nair, Liaison Officer, has already reached Pampa on Saturday. Two Brahmacharis attached to Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt, Sivadas and Krishnaprasad, are co-ordinating the AIMS healthcare venture at Pampa.
• Health Minister, Adoor Prakash, will inaugurate the Ayyappa Medical Centre run by AIMS team at Pampa on Wednesday morning. Swami Thuriyamruthananda Puri will preside over the inaugural function and Dr M.Prathapan Nair, AIMS principal, will deliver the keynote address.
The centre will have four doctors specialised in Emergency Medicine, a Cardiac Care Unit, casuality, X-Ray unit, clinical laboratory and pharmacy, says Mr Nair. An ambulance with Intensive Care Unit facility has also been provided at the centre for shifting patients who require advanced medical care to AIMS or any other hospital after stabilising them, he adds.
The centre will be closed on August 21 evening when the five-day monthly rituals come to a close at Lord Ayyappa Temple.
no healthcare facility on the trekking path during the five-day monthly puja period at the Ayyappa shrine. As many as 20 cardiac casualties have been reported from the trekking path during the monthly puja period in the past one year alone.
The Health Minister will inaugurate the centre at a simple function to be held on Wednesday morning.

by-Nikita Singh
PGDM 1st