Designing scientific and cost effective large animal operation theatre and a X-ray room

Attempt was made to establish a cost effective and scientific large animal operation theatre and x-ray room suitable for both clinical and teaching purposes. The operation theatre was designed with a square shape (2400 sq. ft.) with a large rectangular dome (400 sq. ft.) on the roof with glass cover on four side walls of the dome to have a bright sun light from morning to evening and hence avoiding the need of large shadowless lamps. Separate entries were provided to patient and surgical team. Patient entry and students entry was through the common door. Students were later made to sit in the gallery all around the operating room and observe the operation through glass. Three barrier rooms were provided for the entry of surgical team and one barrier room was provided for the entry of patient. This barrier room (200 sq. ft.) of the patient entry was utilized for washing of hands after surgery, whereas one of the barrier rooms (50 sq. ft.) of the surgeons entry was used as a preoperative scrub room for surgical team. Another barrier room (50 sq. ft.) was used for storing the sterile gown, instruments and slippers. The main operative room consisted of 400 sq. ft. area and together with student gallery the total area of O.T. was 2400 sq. ft. The floor of central operating area was made by non slippery cement avoiding grooves and rough surfaces. More slope (6") was given to the floor to clean blood and urine. Electrically lifted table was installed at the ground level without any pit to avoid accumulation of water and blood in the pit. A simple operative trevis was installed. Four small ventilator windows were provided with sliding doors and were opened only during the removal of irritating formalin vapours to the adjacent sterile room all around the operating room. Two powerful exhausts were fixed at the top with unidirectional air movement. The wall of operating room was built by cement wall of 5 ft. height and glass wall of 4 ft. height for easy visualization by the students. X-ray room was built adjacent to operating room and out patient ward with a single passage. The x-ray room was built with an area of 400 sq. ft. to install both 60 mA and 500 mA machine. Every care was taken to provide two beams on the roof to install x-ray machine of any standard company with ceiling suspension. The walls were fixed with tiles up to 7 ft. Two heavy duty exhausts were fixed to eliminate smell. Four coir mattress of 3" were placed side by side covered with tarpolin for recumbent X-ray. Double door entry was provided for dark room. Dark room was spacious to train 20 students at a time and was built with dry bench (3 x 2’) and wet bench with a partition wall in between. The wall and roof were painted with cream colour for reflection of light.