A team of consultants hired by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is surveying four districts in Tamil Nadu to provide financial assistance for boosting the urban healthcare needs.
Sample study
They visited the Government hospitals and urban health centres in the districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Madurai and Chennai as part of its sample study data collection.
Representatives from Dalberg Global Development Advisors and Global Link Management, Japan, on Thursday visited the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), the tertiary referral centre for Western Tamil Nadu and border districts of Kerala which treated around 6,000 outpatients every day and had 1,247 in-patients.
Medical Superintendent B. Asokan, Resident Medical Officer S. Dharmalingam, and other hospital officials explained to the JICA team the infrastructure, skilled manpower and the equipment available and the future needs of the Hospital.
Sources told The Hindu that the team also visited the Corporation health centres in Coimbatore.
They visited various wards in the CMCH including the newly-constructed Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care centre, the paediatric wards and the general treatment wards.
They also held consultation sessions with the senior hospitals and asked them to fill up detailed questionnaires on the hospital infrastructure.
The visit was only to assess the requirements of the districts as only the Japanese Government, in consultation with the Tamil Nadu Government, would take the final decision on the amount of financial assistance to be sanctioned for the project, the officials said.
The JICA works closely with the State government to alleviate the infrastructure shortages and boost the healthcare structure to help India’s efforts achieve the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in reducing infant mortality rate and the under-five mortality rate.
