Harsh Vardhan opens 5 advanced facilities at PGI

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan inaugurated five state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, further upping the super-speciality diagnostic quotient of the PGI.

Addressing as the chief guest of an event organised to mark World Oral Health Day at Bhargava Auditorium, Dr Harsh Vardhan said the premier institutes such as the PGI had a bigger responsibility of mentoring and hand-holding, of creating successful models which contributed towards the ultimate goal of ‘Health for All.’ “The year 2020 may go down in history as the ‘Year of Covid’, but it will also be remembered as the ‘Year of Scientific Community’,” he said.

“The way our medical professionals and scientific community rose to the occasion through the challenging times of Covid-19 and even after one year, still fighting relentlessly without any trace of fatigue, thereby significantly and successfully managing the pandemic in a country of 1.3-billion population is a testimony to the fact that we have the DNA, sincerity, commitment and passion to accomplish the vision of quality healthcare for everyone in the country,” he added.

Complimenting the PGI for its commendable initiatives, the minister stated that the state-of-the-art facilities/equipment inaugurated today were a major step forward in healthcare innovation and will go a long way in addressing the healthcare needs of the community of the region.

Resource centre fororal healthcare

The Union Minister had inaugurated National Resource Centre for Oral Health Care of Children and Elderly, the first ever initiative under the National Oral Health Programme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which has been aimed at nurturing a model of oral healthcare delivery to children and elderly persons in the Chandigarh region.

3 PET scanners

He also inaugurated an advanced PET-CT scan facility. With this state-of-the-art equipment from Siemens, Germany, the PGI has become the first government hospital in the country to provide this facility and the only hospital having 3 PET scanners.

CATH lab

The Advanced Vascular Interventional Lab, the first of its kind neuro-interventional CATH lab with a unique ‘biplane’ system to visualise the brain in 2 planes instead of one for increased accuracy, lesser complications and reduced procedure time, was also inaugurated by the minister.

Fastest CT scan machine

Dr Harsh Vardhan also inaugurated 384 Slice Dual Source CT Scan. Installed in the Advanced Paediatric Centre of the institute, the world’s most powerful and fastest CT scan machine allows for CT scans to be done in the fraction of a second.

Refractive surgery suite

A refractive surgery suite (SMILE) was also inaugurated by him. Revolutionising the world of refractive surgery, the state-of-the-art refractive surgery suite at the Advanced Eye Centre now provides the latest technology for laser vision correction in the world.