The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Treatment of ailing children in disarray

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Treatment of ailing children in disarray

By Dennis Marcus Mathew

HYDERABAD, NOV 2. The free treatment promised by the State Government to children suffering from heart disorders seems to have come to a standstill with the authorities yet to finalise the modalities.

A month after G.O. Ms. No. 362 was issued, directing private hospitals to provide treatment and surgery for various categories of heart ailments at rates 20 per cent less than those charged by the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), no visible progress has been achieved by the central committee set up to supervise the affairs.

List of hospitals

Though the G.O. mentions that the chairman of the committee (Director of Medical Education) should send a list of private hospitals that have agreed to conduct surgeries and details of the types of surgeries each hospital can handle, officials of State-run hospitals allege this has not happened so far.

"We have not got the list and are forced to send the children to NIMS, which has a limit to the surgeries it can handle, and we cannot order the private hospitals around. The promised upgradation of our cardiology wings, so that we can do some of the surgeries, is also yet to happen," says a government hospital official.

Again, the onus of deciding which private hospital can handle the surgeries is now on the government hospitals, which is not what the G.O. says.

The DME, K. Bhaskar Rao, however claims a list of private hospitals has been given to the government hospitals, which in turn should contact the private hospitals, check their infrastructure and then distribute the surgeries accordingly. "They have been given copies of the G.O. which they can show the private hospitals," he says.

Payment of costs

The corporates, on the other hand, are still fuming over the delay in payment of the costs of surgeries they have conducted so far. "Though we have submitted our bills, nothing has been paid so far. How long can they expect us to go on with free treatment?" asks one.

Dr. Rao retorts that not all corporates have submitted their bills and that the Finance department has to issue another G.O. releasing the sanctioned Rs. 8 crores.

In the meanwhile, the agonising wait continues for the ailing children.

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