SIMS Hospital, Vadapalani, has launched a doctor-on-call programme to reach out to people at their homes.
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Health minister Ma. Subramanian, who launched the Hello Doctor 04420012001 helpline, termed it a novel scheme. “This scheme will be a frontrunner and is similar to the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam that the State had launched last year,” he said.
According to him, till March 28, over 57 lakh people had benefited under the scheme. The aim is to identify one crore people who require medicines for non-communicable diseases and supply it to them at their doorstep.
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Similarly, the Innuyir Kappom scheme had benefited over 38,000 accident victims and ₹33.5 crore had been spent so far in treating victims within 48 hours of an accident. This had reduced deaths from 1,700 in January 2020 to 540 in January this year, he said.
Health secretary J. Radhakrishnan said such schemes by private hospitals that took forward the State’s programmes, indicated its success. “People are in denial. Such services will give continuum of care and prevent out-of-pocket expenses for the elderly who are in denial. We miss the opportunity to treat them earlier,” he said, adding that government and private sector healthcare providers should complement each other
P. Kuganantham, head of infectious diseases and social medicine at the hospital, said the scheme was started to reduce human suffering and extend arms to reach out to people at their home. There are plans to extend geriatric services as well as the State had the highest population of the elderly, next only to Kerala. The doctors would attend to patients at their homes, he added.
The hospital’s managing director Padmapriya Ravi and vice-president Raju Sivasami participated.