The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Foot Care Clinic at Royapettah Hospital

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Sunday, Jun 28, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Foot Care Clinic at Royapettah Hospital

Special Correspondent

Those with diabetes for 20 years would get priority at the Clinic

— Photo: R. Ravindran

New facility: Health Minister M. R. K. Pannerselvam at the inauguration of a diabetic foot care clinic at Government Royapettah Hospital in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: A Diabetic Foot Care Clinic with financial assistance from Lions Club International District 324-A6 was inaugurated on Saturday at the Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH) here.

Senior diabetics – those with diabetes for 20 years – would get priority at the Clinic. It is the third such facility to be established in the public sector hospitals in the State, the others being at Government Kilpauk Hospital here and in Madurai.

The Lions Club International District 324-A6 provided Rs.2.50 lakh for the Clinic, which initially would function once a week. Every month, the diabetology wing of GRH receives around 12,000 persons as outpatients.

Doctors say one in eight diabetics patients develop foot ulcers and require amputation. Patients with deep infection need to be hospitalised for over a month. Early detection and treatment of foot ulcers would prevent hospitalisation.

Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam, who inaugurated the clinic, urged service organisations such as the Lions Clubs International to adopt and maintain a hospital ward each and build more toilets.

The equipment for the clinic has been provided by Diabetic Foot Care India. Diabetes Association of India is a partner in the project.

Detailing the healthcare initiatives of the State government, the Minister said it had simplified the procedure for the hospitals to indent for medicines. Under the new system, the paperwork for ordering medicines and repair and maintenance of their equipment to the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation had been dispensed with. Instead, the hospitals could place the orders and call for technicians online.

“This will prevent procedural delays involved in sending and receiving letters and the time taken for the sanction,” Mr. Panneerselvam said after commissioning the online system at GRH.

The Minister also reviewed the progress of work on a five-storey building coming up in the hospital. The government had sanctioned Rs.10 crore for the building, which would be used as a surgery block. Kilpauk Medical College Hospital Dean V. Kanagasabai, appealed to the Minister to consider starting a medical college at GRH

GRH Superintendent and Director of the Institute of Non-Communicable Diseases R. Rajendran, Chairman of the Diabetes Association of India U.Mohammed and Lions Club International District 324-A6 Governor V.Kamala Mahadevan spoke.

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