The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Hospital plans scheme to help poor patients

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hospital plans scheme to help poor patients

S. Rajendran

Employees of organisations that make donations to get discount on treatment costs at Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology

Bangalore: The Government-owned Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology has come up with a novel scheme to raise funds for the benefit of poor patients in the State. Interestingly, compared to the past when the rich were more prone to heart diseases, the situation has dramatically changed in recent years with findings indicating that both the rich and the poor are equally at risk when it comes to heart ailments.

Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology Director C.N. Manjunath told The Hindu here that instead of turning away poor patients or even keeping them waiting until a sponsor is located, the institute has decided to raise funds from philanthropic organisations and individuals and also give back what it can to such organisations and individuals. The donors will be placed on a "special list" wherein the employees of such donor organisations will be extended a special discount in case they undergo treatment at the institute.

Dr. Manjunath, a noted cardiologist who has specialised in the field of valvuloplasty, said heart diseases are now prevalent both in the poor and the rich and, as a matter of fact, the poor are more prone to valvular heart diseases. A change of heart valve or a valvuloplasty procedure is much more expensive that an angioplasty or even a bypass surgery or a open heart surgery. Being a Government-run cardiology hospital, it is also painful and difficult to turn away poor patients merely because they are not in a position to pay for the costs. Hence, the new scheme to raise funds to serve the poor.

Grants insufficient

He said the Government extended a grant of Rs. 7.5 crores for the 540-bed autonomous institute, which has 504 employees.

The grant is just adequate to meet the establishment costs. As a result, the institute is compelled to treat only poor patients who can remit a major part of the cost prior to the commencement of the treatment. Some of the heart treatment procedures are relatively expensive ranging from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 1 lakh. With the institute conducting nearly 5,000 varied procedures annually, the total funds needed for serving the poor is around Rs. 5 crores.

This is the sum the institute proposes to raise from philanthropists.

Dr. Manjunath said the employee-patients of the donor organisations will be given a 50 per cent discount for master health check-up and a five per cent discount on procedural costs.

Donation

The Government-run Mysore Minerals Company has donated Rs. 90 lakhs recently and a ward at the institute has been named after the organisation. With the offer of discount on procedures and check-up, the institute is confident of raising a substantial amount. If the donations surpass the target, it can even form part of a corpus since the interest thereon will be available every year.

Facilities

As many as 12,000 inpatients and over 1.2 lakh outpatients are treated every year at the institute.

The 540-bed hospital equipped with four cathlabs and five operation theatres annually conducts 1,000 open heart surgeries, 8,000 coronary angiograms and another 2,000 procedures comprising angioplasties and vavuloplasties. The Jayadeva Institute recently announced a drastic reduction in the cost of angiogram from Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 3,000 and for angioplasty (with bare stent) to Rs. 45,000 from Rs. 70,000 for poor patients.

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