The Hindu Business Line : Efforts on to evolve special cardiac package for children

TWO weeks after the death of 14-year-old T. Shoban at a protest rally by children suffering from heart disease, the Government is still grappling with the vital issue of mopping up resources to meet the gigantic task.

The Health Ministry officials have started a series of meetings with various players, including corporate hospitals, which could play a part in reducing the costs per intervention. The effort is directed towards evolving a special package.

The officials are working hard to zero in on a figure that can be sold to corporate hospitals. "Even if they arrive at the figure of Rs 50,000, the total figure to treat nearly two lakh children would be astronomical," sources in the Government said.

They said the Government was looking at a rough figure of Rs 30,000 for each surgery.

Nearly 120 surgeries were conducted so far in different hospitals. Of these, only 20 were conducted in Government hospitals.

The preliminary screening camps held in several districts found that 6,500 children needed immediate attention.

Even as hectic parleys are on to arrive at a consensus, Apollo Hospital and Care Hospital sent bills towards expenditure on surgeries conducted by them on children after the August 7 rally.

The officials met up with distributors and dealers of disposables relating to cardiac interventions to seek their help. Representatives of Metronic (US), Polystan (Denmark) and TTK Valves were among those present at the meeting convened recently.

"Many children require surgeries that are extremely expensive and beyond the reach of the poor," Mr S. Bhale Rao, Principal Secretary (Health, Medical and Family Welfare) said.

Since consumables, disposables and drugs formed a major part of interventions, the Government had sought their cooperation to reduce the total cost per intervention. "We seek cooperation in both cash and kind," he said in his appeal to the dealers and manufacturers.

We also seek discounts from manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the supply chain," the appeal went on.

The distributors reportedly asked the Government to come out with a specific proposal so that they could negotiate with their manufacturers abroad. Some others seem to have conveyed that it was not possible to offer any reduction as they were already selling at competitive prices.

The Government listed nearly 50 different kinds of disposables and consumables essential during a cardiac surgery.

Meanwhile, the Government's plan to hold a similar meeting with doctors belonging to both Government and corporate hospitals hit a roadblock. The meeting, scheduled to be held on Monday, has been deferred.

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