The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Periodic screening of ailing children promised

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 03, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Periodic screening of ailing children promised

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MARCH 2. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has promised screening of children for cardiac problems all over the State every six months.

Intervening during question hour in the Assembly on Wednesday, Dr. Reddy said the Government was taking steps to strengthen the infrastructure in Government hospitals to save the lives of poor children, a demand unanimously voiced by members of all parties.

He said infrastructure also included doctors, who were difficult to find. Doctors experienced in surgery on adults could not perform heart operations on children, he added.

Earlier, Dr. Reddy tried to pacify M.A. Ghafoor of the CPI(M) and G. Kishan Reddy of the BJP when they resented the delay in surgeries on children due to lack of infrastructure in hospitals. Mr. Ghafoor demanded diversion of funds from an irrigation project to meet the cost of developing the infrastructure.

The Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, said the Government had issued GOs for release of medical expenses of children within 15 days of the operation. He said seed money of Rs. 8 crores was allocated in the budget for the next year to meet the expenditure on children's surgeries.

Video piracy

The Tourism Minister, J. Geeta Reddy, said the Government would come up with a legislation to effectively curb video piracy in the State. She said the draft bill had been sent to the Centre for concurrence. It would be introduced in the current session of the Assembly if the Centre's conveyed its acceptance immediately.

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