The district panchayat here is planning to start a pharmacy to offer free medicines to patients who have undergone kidney transplantation.
The project would be included in the annual plan of the local body, panchayat president K.V. Sumesh announced at a meeting of the patients. A press release said the pharmacy would be opened on the premises of the Government District Hospital. It would also provide medicines at subsidised rate for kidney diseases.
The announcement by the district panchayat followed experiences discussed by patients at the meeting. They said they were unable to take up any job because of their poor health and they survived on medicines.
The cost of the medicines they required would be ₹20,000 a month. The district panchayat president said at the meeting that there were around 2,500 patients in the district who had undergone the transplantation. The panchayat was giving them a helping hand as most of them found it difficult to manage their treatment expenses and family expenses.
The pharmacy project would be implemented through Snehajyothi Kidney Patients’ Welfare Society under the district panchayat. There was also a proposal at the meeting to appoint a nephrologist at the hospital.
