Nearly 600 hospitals across the State were providing advanced treatment to economically weak sections under the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life-saving Treatment, Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Pongalur N. Palanisamy said here on Saturday.
At an awards function at G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, the Minister said over one crore families were covered under the scheme and the Government had spent Rs.800 crore.
The Minister gave away the Distinguished Service Award instituted by the hospital to its Medical Superintendent T.B. Ramakrishnan, Chief Cardio-thoracic Surgeon S. Muralidharan, Chief Anaesthesiologist Rajani Sundar, Senior Medical Officer (Paediatrics) G. Srimathi and Consultant Paediatrics Surgeon V.R. Ravikumar.
Mr. Palanisamy attributed the hospital's commendable performance to the commitment on the part of the doctors, nurses and other staff members to provide good care to patients.
District Collector P. Umanath said the State Government had taken the public-private partnership route in health care in order to provide advanced medical facilities to the poor.
It was found that under many Government schemes people were not able to undergo treatment because they were not able to pay the charges upfront, Dr. Umanath said. Hence, the Government introduced the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life-saving Treatment. This enabled cashless transaction at hospitals for the economically weak sections.
The Collector commended the hospital for performing 268 surgeries under the scheme in the last three months. Coimbatore district stood first in the State in the number of surgeries performed under the insurance scheme. The total number of surgeries was more than the combined figure for Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur district, he said.
Presenting a report on the surgeries performed under the insurance scheme, Dr. Muralidharan said out of 1.8 lakh children born every year with congenital heart diseases, 60,000 to 90,000 suffered from critical illnesses and would die within six months if they did not get timely medical care.
The schemes by the Government to provide timely and effective medical intervention had been of immense benefit to many children in the State. Children from Coimbatore, Dindigul, Sivakasi and Nagercoil had benefited from schemes such a Palli Elam Sirar Irudhaya Padhukappu Thitta. Totally, the hospital had operated on 198 children under this scheme and another one. Out of the total cost of Rs. 1.66 crore, the hospital contributed Rs. 34.37 lakh and the surgeons Rs.12.86 lakh.
Dean of the hospital Ramkumar Raghupathy traced the growth of the hospital since its founding in 1952. He attributed its present position to the contribution by both the medical and non-medical professionals and other staff members.
