The Hindu : Other States / Pondicherry News : `Delay in sanction of financial aid to poor patients'

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Friday, Apr 08, 2005

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`Delay in sanction of financial aid to poor patients'

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, APRIL 7. Members cutting across party lines today protested the delay in the sanctioning of financial assistance to the poor for undergoing treatment for critical diseases and in processing applications submitted by patients seeking assistance from the Health Department.

Raising the issue during question hour in the Assembly today, the former Health Minister, A.M.H. Nazeem (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), said that it was disconcerting that the Department was not implementing the scheme although it was a question of life and death for poor patients suffering from critical ailments.

The assistance available under the State Illness Relief Fund should be available without any partiality, he said.

S.P. Sivakumar (DMK) referred to the plight of a young painter, who was facing hardships in getting the assistance. It was evident that the painter belonged to a poor family but he faced embarrassing procedural formalities in establishing his credentials that he was from a poor financial background.

A.M. Krishnamoorthy (Bharatiya Janata Party) said that the Department could depend on the certificate issued by the revenue authorities on the income status of the applicant for the assistance.

Malladi Krishna Rao (Independent) said that in his constituency of Yanam, two patients suffering from critical illness had died without getting the grant under the scheme.

Neela Gangadharan (Congress) said that a patient in his constituency had also faced difficulty in getting the assistance. P. Angalan, (Congress), said that a heart patient had collapsed without getting the assistance and another patient was now struggling with some ailment and hence the authorities should rush aid to the patient to take the treatment in leading hospitals.

Health Minister E. Valsaraj, who listened to a spate of complaints from the legislators, said that there was delay of four months in getting the Central assistance for the scheme.

Recently was a sum of Rs. 25 lakhs was made available and the Chief Minister had since given a matching grant.

Mr. Valsaraj said that during 2004-05 as many as 180 patients were benefited in Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Plea for ESI hospital

Malladi Krishna Rao (Independent), representing Yanam constituency, drew the attention of the Assembly to the difficulties facing patients visiting the local government hospital.

Participating in a debate on demands for grants to some departments today, Mr. Rao said patients from Yanam had to travel 850 kms to Pondicherry Government hospital due to lack of specialists at the government hospital.

Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh had several hospitals with modern facilities.

Though these hospitals were much closer to Yanam, the treatment was expensive for common people. He also wanted the government to set up an ESI hospital in the region.

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