In a first, the surgeons at the Department of Cardiology in Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital successfully performed permanent pacemaker implant on two patients.
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According to a press release issued here on Sunday, the patients, on admission, had low heart beat. After carrying out the tests, they were recommended to have pacemaker. A team comprising Medical Superintendent Kalaivani and doctors Kumaran, Thadeus and RMO Silas Jeyamani said that under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS), the patients were treated.
Normally, permanent pacemaker implantation, costs around ₹3 lakh in a private hospital, while it was done free of cost at the medical college hospital here.
Senior assistant professor and cardiologist Balamurugan and others said that the cardiology department had saved around 1,200 lives of heart patients since 2020. Beneficiaries need not travel to Chennai or Madurai from Thoothukudi district for a permanent pacemaker or angioplasty.
Cardiologists Balamurugan, Ganesan, Venkatesh, Alan Binny and Thulasiram and their teams expressed satisfaction and said that the two patients were recovering well.