Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said on Tuesday that more than 1.11 crore persons in the State had benefitted from the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (TNCMCHIS) sinced it was launched by former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Speaking at an event organised to felicitate doctors of government institutions and Gleneagles Global Health City at Perumbakkam for conducting over 125 liver transplants under the scheme during the pandemic, he said the scheme was expanded to cover more diseases. “Chief Minister M. K. Stalin wanted us to make it cover more diseases and more hospitals to benefit more deserving patients, which is what it is now,” he said. Under ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’, 65 lakh persons had been covered since the scheme was launched in August last year, he said.
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said touching the mark of 125 transplants under the TNCMCHIS was a milestone and welcomed the manner in which a private hospital was coordinating with government institutions to provide the best care to patients. He said the role of donors in transplants was very important. The number of cadaver donations that had gone down during the pandemic had gone up now. Immunosuppressants required by transplant patients were being provided under the scheme, he added.
Joy Varghese, Director of Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology, Gleneagles Global Health City, said that out of these 125 cases, 21 were chronic liver failure cases, in which the TNCMCHIS team worked relentlessly to give emergency approvals for the liver transplantations. Under the TNCMCHIS, the hospital had also successfully performed six blood group mismatch liver transplantations, he added.
Mettu Srinivas Reddy, Director-Liver Transplant and HPB Surgery, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, said that for many patients, especially the very young, the surgery gave an opportunity to return to normal lives. “For families that can’t afford transplants, the health insurance scheme is a boon,” he added.
S. Aravind Ramesh, MLA, Sholinganallur, and Anant Rao, COO, IHH Healthcare India, spoke.
