Appasamy Hospitals on Sunday commissioned an Out-patient (OP) block to make a range of speciality consultation services more accessible to the public.
The OP block has 20 consultation suites and is manned by a team of 40 doctors from 25 specialities.
Inaugurating the facility, Union Minister for Shipping G.K. Vasan said the contribution of the private healthcare sector was essential to achieve the goal of health for all. The governments at the Centre and State were focused on making healthcare inclusive. The Union budget for 2010-11 had allocated Rs.22,300 crore as outlay for health which was a marked increase over the allocation in the previous year (Rs.19,534 crore), Mr. Vasan said.
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D. Sudharssanam, MLA, said that delivering healthcare was a challenge with the increasing morbidity in the community triggered by a sedentary lifestyle and dietary habits. Private hospitals had to find a balance between profit making and community service to contribute to the underprivileged sections of the society, he added.
Veera Shanmugamani, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, complimented the hospital for organising free ophthalmic camps and subsidised dialysis to promote inclusive healthcare.
R. Venkatasamy, plastic surgeon, underscored the importance of the private sector in delivering healthcare to a populous country like India.
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S. Ramakrishnan, former State Information Commissioner, A.M. Swaminathan, former bureaucrat, S. Suresh Babu, D. Ramesh and Ramalingam, Corporators also felicitated.
R.N. Kasturi, vice-chairman, said the hospital sustained its core competency in ophthalmology while adding specialities. The hospital indigenously manufactured most of the ophthalmology equipment, he said.
P.S.N. Appasamy, hospital chairman and A. Ramamurthy, director, were also present.