Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Monday that the State government would launch schemes, including medical insurance, to provide world-class treatment facilities to the economically disadvantaged section of people.
He was speaking after inaugurating the first anniversary celebrations of The Indian Herbal Therapy and Research Foundation, an institute led by herbal practitioner M.I. Mathews Vaidyar for children afflicted with cerebral palsy and associated diseases.
Mr. Chandy said even though there were prestigious medical institutes in the State, a large section of people were not able to afford treatment at these institutes. “This is a cruel disparity and a social issue. The government's aim is to bridge this disparity and bring world-class treatment facilities to the poor and needy,” he said.
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As a first step, the State government would launch the Cochlear Implantation Scheme for early detection and treatment of hearing impairment among children, he said.
Mr. Chandy said Mr. Mathews Vaidyar was doing a laudable work by bringing relief to many affected children and their parents through traditional healing methods. “It is heartening to know that Mr. Mathews Vaidyar through his traditional medicine is bringing a ray of hope to even those children who could not find a cure for their illness in allopathy and other systems of medicine,” he said adding that an open-minded approach was needed to explore the possibilities of our traditional systems of medicine.
District panchayat president Remani P. Nair, who presided over the function, said the district panchayat would associate with Mathews Vaidyar to launch a scheme to provide treatment and financial aid to children from Below Poverty Line families who are afflicted with cerebral palsy and allied motor neuron diseases.
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Mayor K. Chandirka, district panchayat vice-president Rufus Daniel, secretary V.S. Santhosh Kumar, Mitranketan director K. Vishwanathan and parents and family members of children under the treatment of Mathews Vaidyar were also present at the function.
The inaugural session was followed by an awareness class on herbal remedies and traditional medicine by Mr. Mathews Vaidyar.