Amount for children’s heart surgery goes up

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/02/stories/2009010254120500.htm

Amount for children’s heart surgery goes up

Shastry V. Mallady

Government accepts private hospitals’ request

MADURAI: Funds provided by the State government to private hospitals for carrying out free heart surgeries for children have been increased.

A government order to this effect has been issued and the Health Department has asked all accredited private hospitals to expedite the surgeries for schoolchildren with heart ailments under ‘Ilam Sirar Irudhaya Padhukappu Thittam.’

S. Elango, Director of Public Health (DPH), told The Hindu here on Thursday that the government has acceded to the request of private hospitals seeking more money.

For each simple closed heart surgery for a child, the government has increased the amount to Rs. 20,000 from the present Rs. 10,000 given to private hospitals. For a simple open heart surgery, the amount has been enhanced to Rs.50,000 from Rs.30,000.

According to Dr. Elango, the government has also increased the money reimbursed for major/complicated open heart surgeries to Rs. 1 lakh from Rs.70,000.

“Poor children up to 15 years who have to undergo heart surgery would benefit immensely as the accredited private hospitals will expedite the process,” he said.

The private hospitals represented to the State government that the money provided under the scheme should commensurate with costs of medical consumables required to perform a heart surgery, the Director of Public Health said.

Stating that 803 free heart surgeries for school-going children were performed in the State so far under the scheme, Dr. Elango said that the tie-up with private hospitals was a right model of public-private partnership to clear the waiting list in Government Hospitals. Children with heart ailments are being identified through screening camps held under School Health Programme.

3 private hospitals added

Dr. Elango informed that three more private hospitals in the State have been added to the existing list of 17 accredited hospitals for the ‘Ilam Sirar Irudhaya Padhukappu Thittam.’

The three hospitals were Billroth Hospital in Chennai, Cauvery Mission Hospital in Tiruchi and Vinayaka Mission Hospital in Salem.