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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | AIIMS announces free emergency cardiac surgeries for general patients -Pritha Chatterjee

AIIMS announces free emergency cardiac surgeries for general patients -Pritha Chatterjee

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published Published on Nov 11, 2013   modified Modified on Nov 11, 2013
-The Indian Express


All emergency cardiology procedures at AIIMS will now be performed free of cost for patients in general wards.

Emergency surgeries such as angioplasty (surgical widening of clogged vessels in the heart using tubes called stents), balloon angioplasty (insertion of a surgical balloon to open obstructed vessels), opening of blocked heart valves and insertion of pacemakers (battery operated devices to improve heart rates) will now all become free, the hospital announced.

Till now, for each of these procedures, emergency patients had to shell out any amount between Rs 30,000 and Rs 70,000 for consumables used in the surgeries.

Dr V K Behl, head of cardiology department at AIIMS, said, "It was a policy we have been contemplating over for the last few years. We have observed that people who come to the emergency ward often cannot pay the money and we struggle to stabilise them while the finances are being arranged."

Explaining that the advancement of technology and increased competition had brought down prices of consumables, Dr Behl said, "We realised that technology was of no use if we could not translate the benefits to patients. We are trying this for the first time in cardiology. If we are able to sustain the practice, it may be replicated in other departments."

A senior official from the institute said despite trying for a long time, the institute had struggled to make emergency cardiology procedures free. "We met a lot of resistance as the Ministry of Health was only prepared to grant us a limited budget. Given the overwhelming number of patients we get, we were afraid that we would overshoot our budget. But after a lot of consultation, we managed to get a green signal from the government."

The Ministry of Health has sanctioned the proposal from the cardiology department of AIIMS after transferring some budgetary allocations from the non-plan to the plan budget. However, patients admitted in private wards will have to continue paying for the consumables.

The decision comes in the face of a likely hike in rate in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular surgery (CTVS) that performs advanced surgeries such as bypass surgeries, repair of birth defects, such as a hole in the heart, and repair of advanced heart problems.

The department had succeeded in bringing down rates of procedures by 15-20 per cent for general ward patients, by cutting the use of disposable items, improving surgical precision, and trying to minimise hospital stay of operated patients. But, sources said, suppliers of consumables such as sutures, expressed their reservations about continuing their supplies at the reduced rates.

"We are still trying to negotiate with the suppliers. Till now, no decision to hike the rates has been taken. But suppliers have repeatedly raised the issue," the official said.


The Indian Express, 11 November, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/aiims-announces-free-emergency-cardiac-surgeries-for-general-patients/1193406/0


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