Mandi hospital to have dialysis facility

Tribune News Service

Mandi, December 16

The Zonal Hospital here will soon begin dialysis facility for renal patients.

Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Deshraj Sharma said an arrangement had been made with a Chandigarh-based firm to start dialysis services in the zonal hospital from January 1 next year under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

He said the cost of the dialysis had been fixed at Rs 1,200. This would provide big relief for the patients of the region, who in the absence of such a facility, had to go to Chandigarh.

The CMO said a mother-child hospital at the zonal hospital would also start functioning. A proposal of Rs 45 crore had been sent to the Central Government to set up a cancer hospital here.

He said a sum of Rs 6 crore had been received under the National Health Mission (NHM) for the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) programme to reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rate.

The main aim was to reduce the mother mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) to 100 mothers per 1 lakh and 25 infants per 1,000 births, respectively by 2017, he said.

At present, the MMR and the IMR in the country was 212 per lakh deliveries and 44 per 1,000 births, respectively, he said.

The CMO said under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya programme, free treatment had been provided to eight children of government schools. A sum of Rs 26 lakh was spent on their treatment.

On family planning, the DC directed the CMO to focus on slum areas in the town and other parts of the district.