BANGALORE: "Indians are three times more vulnerable to heart attacks as
compared to Europeans, and increasingly the youth are falling prey to heart
disease. While there is a need for 25 lakhs heart operations in India every
year, barely 90,000 are performed. The rest die. No one talks about it because
they all don't die at the same place or together", said cardiac surgeon Dr Devi
Shetty.
He was speaking at a symposium, `Well-being through integration of
values__ the Sai way,' organized by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation as
part of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's 85th birthday celebrations.
Dr Devi Shetty decried the fact that a large part of healthcare does not
reach the needy, and this in a country that produces the largest number of
doctors and nurses in the world every year. He attributed this to the fact that
healthcare facilities here follow old principles and don't think for the
future. A conventional 300-bed facility costs Rs 100 crore and cannot therefore
offer cardiac surgeries for Rs 60,000, leaving many out in the cold.
"My son who is also a doctor pointed out that many of the farmers, for
example, who come to our hospitals are not comfortable on the cots we provide,
the flooring we have and cannot adjust to the air conditioning. Hospitals
charge a premium and provide all that the farmers hate", he said.
Dr Shetty outlined his plans of setting up 300-bed multi-speciality
hospitals for as less as Rs 15 crore where cardiac surgeries can be performed
for Rs 60,000. "The first one is coming up in Mysore. It will be ready by
February 2011 and we plan to put up 100 of these around the country", he said.
He called on people to exercise, maintain a healthy diet and refrain from
getting stressed to beat heart disease.
Prof N Jayasankaran, former VC, Kanchi University also spoke at the
symposium.
Read more: Cheaper hospitals need of the hour - The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Cheaper-hospitals-need-of-the-hour/articleshow/6715968.cms#ixzz11vbEBWUw
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