COIMBATORE: For the first time in Tamil Nadu, the district administration has issued a Chief Minister insurance card to a 40 day old girl baby as part of performing open-heart surgery in a private hospital in the city.
Sources said the officials issued an insurance card to the baby as she is being taken care of at a home run by Sharanalayam, an NGO near Kinathukkdaavu, situated in the outskirts of Coimbatore. This is a special case as the girl baby does not have any proof — Aadhaar or ration card. Also, an Insurance card is usually provided only to the head of the family and not to children, they added.
R Sharanya, Secretary of Sharanalayam, told TNIE "We have taken her to hospital after she faced difficulties in breathing last week. The doctor at the hospital advised me to take her for an entire body check. Subsequently, we found that she had Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection (TAPVC) which is a birth defect. It means the blood does not take the normal route from the lungs to the heart and out to the body. Since the surgery was not available at CMCH, we approached the private hospital to provide her with treatment. However, we were unable to arrange for the treatment cost for the child as we have been taking care of nearly 200 children including orphans and mentally disorders etc.”
Following this, we approached Collector GS Sameeran through Kinathukkadavu MLA S Damodaran and the Collector helped the child to get the insurance card within a day, she further said. Sharanya added that the Collector also gathered sponsors for her to perform surgery.
Child Protection Officer R Sundar said the parents had not shown interest to rear the child themselves and handed over the baby to the child welfare committee on the day of the delivery. We handed over the child to Saranalayam, a legal adoption agency, he added.
When contacted, the District Project Officer(DPO) of the Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme in Coimbatore R Kishorekumar said steps have been taken to pay for the girl’s surgery under the CM health insurance scheme. The girl will be admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, the DPO added.