CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will maintain and oversee the two dialysis centres which are being constructed by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) at Kolathur and Kondithope.
It has been proposed that the beneficiaries at the blood purification units should be covered under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS). However, until formal approval for the scheme is obtained, the GCC has decided to bear the dialysis treatment costs payable to Apollo Hospitals, which will operate the blood purification centres.
The centre at Kolathur located on Thanthondri Amman Koil Street in the Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar zone will be a multi-storey facility offering integrated services. While the first floor will house an artificial limb centre, the second will accommodate a physical training centre. Dialysis procedures will be carried out at the blood purification unit on the third floor, and patient amenities will be provided on the fourth floor. The Kondithope facility, coming up on Basin Water Works Street in Sowcarpet under the Royapuram zone, will also function as a comprehensive rehabilitation centre with similar facilities.
In September, a meeting chaired by CMDA Minister PK Sekarbabu, along with the GCC joint commissioner (Health) and the North Chennai regional deputy commissioner, discussed the functioning of these centres. It was decided that while the facilities would be established through CMDA, their operation and maintenance would be handled by the GCC.
Apollo Hospitals was entrusted with operating the blood purification units, while the prosthetic foot and physical training centres would be run by Adinath Trust. CMDA has also proposed to release Rs 3 crore each for procuring essential medical equipment for both the centres.
Meanwhile, during consultations with Apollo Hospitals and Adinath Trust, certain modifications were suggested to the newly constructed facilities. Following this, Apollo Hospitals, which implemented the changes, requested CMDA to provide additional equipment and consumables through the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation. Adinath Trust also requested that the procurement of certain equipment be made for the artificial limb and physical training units.
After further discussions by CMDA and GCC officials, it was decided that the additional equipment would be procured using the capital funds of the GCC.