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For the first time in the history of a Government hospital in the State, more than 50 open heart surgeries have been performed in less than 150 days at Guntur.
The silent revolution has been facilitated by Sahrudaya Medical and Educational Trust, a non-profit NGO, entering into an understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Government for launching an open-heart surgery program at the Guntur Hospital.
Hyderabad-based Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, a reputed heart and lung transplant surgeon in the corporate sector, had founded Sahrudaya to educate people on prevention of heart disease and enable the poor to undergo free cardiac surgeries. He chose Guntur for his program to repay his debt of gratitude to the Guntur Medical College from which he graduated.
It is sad but true that no Government hospital in the post-bifurcated Andhra Pradesh State has an open heart surgery program. And the 1200-bed Guntur General Hospital is supposed to serve a million people in its hinterland. A few private hospitals do undertake Heart Surgeries but they are not eager to entertain poor patients as Government reimbursements under a health insurance scheme are not rewarding. As a result, the poor who cannotafford prohibitively costly heart surgeries in private hospitals have been suffering and dying in silence. The pilot project at Guntur has, therefore, come as a boon for them. Dr.Gokhale depends on philanthropists to come to the aid of the poor as Government reimbursements do not cover costs.
Dr.Gokhale had targeted do 50 open- heart surgeries during the project’s first year. The public response, however, has been so tremendous that it completed more than 50 surgeries in the first four months and a halfitself. Buoyed by the success, Dr.Gokhale now plans to undertake even Heart Transplantation at Guntur, with financial support from philanthropists.
At a function held at the Dr.Podili Prasad Super Specialty and Trauma Care Centre of the Guntur General Hospital on August 4, Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas, Legislative Assembly Speaker Dr.Kodela Siva Prasada Rao and others lauded Dr.Gokhale and his team for hitting the half a century mark in a short period.
Dr.Gokhale attributed the success of his team to the cooperation extended by a host of people including the Director of Medical Education,Superintendent of the Guntur General Hospital, Principal of the Guntur Medical College and large-hearted donors.