The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : New facilities inaugurated at VHS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 11, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

New facilities inaugurated at VHS

Staff Reporter

Contribution from committed donors "The spirit of the institution should spread all over the country to realise the goal of health for all."

— PHOTO: SHAJU JOHN

MORE FACILITIES: Voluntary Health Services secretary N.S. Murali with T. S. Narayanasami, chairman, Indian Overseas Bank, and M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist, at a function held at the institution on Thursday.

CHENNAI: The Voluntary Health Services, a hospital for the have-nots, on Thursday commissioned several facilities established with contributions from its committed donors.

An outpatient emergency and auditorium block, revamped administrative wing, seminar hall and staff room were formally inaugurated at the Taramani premises of the 40-bedded institution which is due for its golden jubilee in two years.

The donations for these facilities and a handful of upcoming projects came from Indian Overseas Bank (Rs. 30 lakh), Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd; (Rs. 15 lakh), Menaka Parthasarathy (Rs. 18 lakh), S. Krishnaswami and Kamala (Rs. 1.80 crore), Vimala Ramakrishnan and family (Rs. 5 lakh), Meenakshi (Rs. 10 lakh), Reliance Industries Mumbai (Rs. 10 lakh), Association of Tamil Nadu Medical Graduates, U.S. (Rs. 21.91 lakh), T. R. Sridharan (Rs. 5 lakh), Rangammal Gopalachari Trust (Rs. 3.80 lakh) and Catalyst Trust (Rs. 1.25 crore).

R. Rajagopal, an associate of the VHS, has sponsored the construction of a health centre in Pallikaranai. Part of the funds also went into acquisitioning a range of new equipment.

A day of celebration for the VHS also served to highlight how important philanthropic support is for an institution with its emphasis on charity. The hospital runs up a deficit of around Rs. 50 lakh a year from treating low-income patients free of cost and extending subsidised care to many others.

An estimated 70 per cent of its patients benefit from free treatment.

The IOB will sanction Rs. 20 lakh more for the VHS, the bank's chairman, T. S. Narayansami announced.

Agricultural scientist and chairman of the National Commission on Farmers M.S. Swaminathan described Dr. Sanjivi as the father of the concept of social inclusion and access to good medical care.

The spirit of the institution should spread all over the country to realise the goal of `health for all', said Prof. Swaminathan, who is also president of VHS.

N. S. Murali, honorary secretary of VHS said the new facilities were in keeping with the blueprint prepared for the institution by its founder Dr. K. S. Sanjivi.

N. Gopalakrishnan and S. Janaki also participated.

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