GUWAHATI, June 8 � The State Government is going to launch a new healthcare scheme for children with a hole in their heart next month. Under this scheme, the cost of the treatment right from surgery to follow-up medicine would be borne by the government.
Announcing the scheme here on Tuesday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed that the State Government has come to an agreement with Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital in Bangalore wherein the hospital would extend a concessional package for the treatment of the children from Assam.
Apart from the treatment, the government will bear the expenditure of the travelling and lodging of the patient along with a guardian.
�The State Government is focusing on enhancing the child healthcare system and bringing the best facilities to the children,� said Sarma adding that the preliminary screening of children will be held from July 1 to 7 at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH). The coordinator will be the head of the Department of Pediatrics.
Sarma said that the government can immediately extend this treatment to 300 children under the Rs 3 crore project.
�Though there is quite a large number of children with such a health problem in the State, identification of such children has not yet started,� said Sarma observing that with the launch of the project, the identification of children with such problem will begin along with free treatment.
It needs to be mentioned here that for checkup after the treatment, the children need not visit Bangalore again as doctors from Narayana Hrudayalaya would come down to the GMCH and examine the children.
Sarma mentioned that Operation Smile has come as a boon to thousands of children. He revealed that the State Government has decided to bear the expenditure of a BPL child for surgery in Philadelphia.
On the other hand, Sarma said that the government has seriously taken the issue of outbreak of cholera in Tezpur and not trifling with the matter as published in a vernacular daily. He said that two cases were confirmed as cholera and samples of another four patients have been sent for testing. He said that germs of cholera have been traced to well water and necessary directions given to the departments concerned to deal with the matter.