3 June, 2016

AIIMS to launch 'adopt a patient' programme

Fifty-year-old Dayawati was brought to AIIMS last month with severe cervical spine injury. Surgery saved her and she can go home. But she remains in hospital because the family doesn't have money for a portable ventilator.

Now, there's hope for Dayawati and hundreds of patients like her who wait endlessly at AIIMS for surgery or discharge because they don't have money to buy equipment needed for rehabilitation at home. India's premier medical institute, visited by 8,000 to 10,000 patients daily, has decided to seek public donations for such patients under an 'adopt a patient' policy. This, officials said, will fill the gap between demand and supply in donations for AIIMS patients.

"We admit about two lakh patients every year at AIIMS. Of this, 30%-40% are poor who cannot even pay for implants. In case of spinal injury, there have been cases where the families abandoned patients because they did not have the means to continue treatment or rehabilitate the patient at home. Such people will benefit from the policy," Dr Deepak Agrawal, who heads the IT division at AIIMS, told TOI. The donation policy will be officially launched by AIIMS director M C Misra on Saturday. But officials said they have already received Rs 14,000 from two individuals within 24 hours of the trial process, which started on Wednesday .

"There is no dearth of people or organisations wanting to help the needy. We get dozens of mails daily requesting verification of patients for whom they want to donate.While some of the cases are genuine, in many instances it is found that NGOs give wrong information to fleece money in the name of treatment for poor patients at AIIMS. The online donation policy will put an end to this," Dr Agrawal added. At present, AIIMS provides financial aid to the poor from the relief funds of the President, PM and CM, and funds from health ministry and private trusts in addition to discretionary grants. But that is not enough.

As per government data, in five years (2009-10 to 201314) AIIMS provided financial aid to only 7,007 poor patients using these sources. There were several occasions when the courts reprimanded the institute for denying treatment to the poor on financial grounds, particularly those suffering from rare diseases.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

03.06.2016

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing

Socrates