Vajpayee Arogyashree in B’lore, Mysore soon
The Vajpayee Arogyashree health insurance scheme for providing super-speciality treatment to poor people achieved a milestone recently when it registered its 10,000th beneficiary.
Health Minister B Sriramulu visited the 10,000th beneficiary, seven-year-old Sudeep Singh, at the Bangalore Cancer Hospital on Friday. Singh, hailing from Jewargi in Gulbarga, came to the hospital three months ago after being diagnosed with leukemia. Doctors said he was showing improvement following treatment.
The Minister told reporters that the scheme would be extended to Bangalore and Mysore divisions. The matter would be taken up in the next cabinet meeting, he said. Currently, the scheme is being implemented only in Gulbarga and Belgaum divisions, comprising six and seven districts respectively.
The scheme, which has 117 empanelled hospitals, has benefited 10,274 people till now, with the department spending close to Rs 61 crore. Responding to a question regarding the alleged medical negligence case in Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore last year, he said a task force had been set up and investigation was on. He refused to divulge details as the matter was sub-judice.
MSc in radiation physics
Director of the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) Dr Vijay Kumar announced that the institute would start the MSc in radiation physics course from September this year.
Speaking at the Bangalore Cancer Hospital, Dr Kumar said the institute got clearance to start the course from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) last month. The course, which will be affiliated to RGUHS, will have five seats. The hospital will be the second institute in Karnataka to offer this course. Presently, Manipal University is offering the course.
Dr Kumar said that except radiotherapy department, the other departments of the cancer unit in Gulbarga would be run by KMIO. He said the radiotherapy department was shut down as AERB had not given the licence as the Gulbarga hospital did not have a radiation physicist.
