|
“Smile Train”, a renowned
non-profit organisation of the USA, has identified Guru Nanak
Hospital as its local partner for treating cleft patients of
the city and its neighboring village at free of cost. After
Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur, this is the second such unit
the organization has chosen to help patients of the state.
Anant Sinha, a plastic surgeon, has been identified to de the
surgery in the hospital. The New York-based organization,
operating in more than 40 countries, has 40 partner hospitals
in India. As there is no centre in Bihar people from the
neighbouring state will also be immensely benefited, feels
Sinha. According to the estimates, there is no such case on a
population of 800 in the world while in Jharkhand, the figure
is 500. Sinha said: “There are about 8,500 cleft cases in
Jharkhand and only 20 percent of them can afford proper
treatment, which costs anything between Rs 14,000 and Rs
20,000. The remaining 80 percent would either not get surgery
done or land with people who offer them the treatment at a
lower cost and with improper repair they are left with the
deformity they had”. “For each cleft case ‘ Smile Train gives
Rs 8,000, which includes cost of operations, case needs about
three days’ stay in the hospital. The patient need not pay
anything for the treatment, which include laboratory
investigations, check-up by paediatricians, speech therapists
and even orthodentists,” added Sinha, trained at Post Graduate
Institute, Chandigarh.
The agreement, signed by ‘Smile
Train’ with the GN hospital, is effective for one year and it
has given a target of 300 surgeries in the period. A team of
doctors from the ‘Smile Train’ will review the progress of the
project after three months and only after being satisfied,
money will be reimbursed to the hospital and the doctor. Sinha
said strict quality standards are maintained while selecting a
partner hospital. “A review is done frequently to maintain the
quality of treatment,” he added.
The global organisation has sponsored 40,000 cleft operations
in the past four years under the project. Any child from three
to 18 months are covered under the project. Cases of higher
age are also taken but their chances for improved speech
remain blink, he added.
|
MEDICAL
TOURISM |
|
Story in OUTLOOK Magazine - February 13, 2006 |
|
I never enjoy the new
Year’s holiday much and have never been tempted to throw
myself in the Trafalgar Square fountains, but this year
marked a new low when I passed the holiday in the
intensive care ward of the Guru Nanak hospital in the city
of Ranchi. Despite knowing India quite well after five
years as a foreign correspondent based in Delhi, I made an
elementary mistake: scouting for an auto on an until
street in Jharkhand capital, I did not keep one eye on the
ground and as a result fell down a deep unguarded hole,
gashing the back of my head.
Immediately India revealed
its nicest side: a Tata Sumo screeched to a stop and a
stranger hauled me out of the hole then drove to my hotel
nearby to warn them. I felt no pain and it was only when I
saw myself in the hotel lift’s mirror covered in blood
that I realised I was in trouble. At the hospital they
stitched me up and kept me under observation. The night
were hideous with the coughs and groans of my
fellow-patients hammering on death’s door. When my wife
Daniela kissed me goodnight at 7pm on December 31, that
was the end of my New Year’s celebrations. The hospital
ward, however was impressively clean and modern and the
attention was kindly as well as professional. This
impromptu road test of the India health system suggests
that all those Brits lining up to fly to India for
operations that would cost five or ten times as much over
there are certainly into a good thing.
Friends in Europe urged me to sue the Ranchi municipality
for millions of pounds, but I have spent enough time in
India not to step willingly into that particular chasm.
|
|
