To ensure that advanced cancer treatment and palliative care is available to people in the districts, the Telangana’s Aarogyasri Health Care Trust will be soon introducing a pilot programme in five district hospitals providing the treatment facilities.
Cancer treatment like chemotherapy and even palliative care will be given at the area hospitals of Mahabubnagar, Medak, Warangal, Adilabad and Khammam to begin with, revealed Aarogyasri Health Care Trust Chief Executive Officer M. Chandrasekhar.
The city based MNJ Cancer Hospital will be functioning as the ‘Palliative Hub’ for these hospitals with its medical staff guiding and supervising the area hospitals on the treatment protocols and case analysis through video-conferencing. “This will be a great boon to the people of the rural areas as they need not travel as far as the capital city for cancer treatment,” he pointed out.
Gradual expansion
Once the treatment of cancer protocols gets established in these five district hospitals, it will be gradually expanded to rest of the five districts. Necessary approvals for medical and diagnostic equipment and also health care personnel required for the treatment have been given.
Similarly, the Aarogyasri Trust intends to take up Cochlear Implants procedures for the children born without the hearing abilities in the district hospitals while also ensuring sufficient arrangements are made for providing rehabilitation programme also known as audio verbal therapy.
Dr. Chandrasekhar stated that the age of the children eligible for the Cochlear Implants has been increased from two years to three years with an additional six months made mandatory for the rehab programme. The rehab centres are coming up in the five district hospitals mentioned above to become operational within a month or two.
Rehab treatment
“We have recruited surgeons and they will be trained in the Government ENT Hospital at Koti here. We will also be recruiting B.Sc/M.Sc qualified audiologists on a contract basis,” he said.
It would help the poor get access to operation and rehab in the same place as it was noticed that many children from these families were irregular with the rehab treatment unable to bear the costs of travel and stay post operation.
Kidney treatment
With regard to kidney treatment, around 20 centres have been identified in the districts for starting dialysis centres under the public, private partnership (PPP) mode.
The CEO said that under the Jeevandan programme, the Trust has also began to encourage transplants of liver, lung, pancreas, bone marrow and cadaver organs too by the Government hospitals with costs fixed.
“Private hospitals too are welcome to participate but have to stick to the costs decided,” he said.
All these efforts are with an objective of making sure 60 per cent of Aarogyasri Trust funds go to Government hospitals.
