CHENNAI: Aravind Eye Hospital, which provides free or highly subsidised treatment for a majority of patients, has set up a new super-speciality eye care hospital in Chennai.
Spread across 5 lakh sqft with all sub-specialities in ophthalmology, the hospital located at Poonamallee was inaugurated by V Shanta of Cancer Institute on Saturday. Out of the total 750 beds in the hospital, 500 have been allocated for the underprivileged sections.
Speaking on the occasion, J Radhakrishnan, health secretary, said one of the challenges is ensuring better healthcare in districts so that people are able to get treatment without the need to travel far.
Shanta said the hospital was a model institution in eye healthcare. “We should promote accessibility, affordability and equitability in all forms of healthcare.”
Among the other dignitaries present were Viswanathan, founding Vice-Chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology and Alfred Sommers, Dean emeritus, John Hopkins school of Public Health (United States).
The hospital in Chennai is the 12th in its network in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. There are plans to open a facility in Tirupati next year, hospital officials said.
“Aravind Hospital, founded in 1976 in Madurai, does 45 per cent of eye surgeries in the State, out of which 50 per cent is done free of cost or at highly subsidised rates,” said P Namperumalsamy, hospital’s Chairman emeritus.