Kozhikode district will be included in the ‘Hridyam’ programme of the State government aimed at offering free surgeries for children with congenital heart diseases.
Inaugurating the scheme here along with mobile intervention units for differently-disabled children and a skill lab on Thursday, Minister for Health and Social Welfare K.K. Shylaja said steps would be taken to perform surgeries on the beneficiaries within 24 hours of parents registering their children’s name in the web registry, www.hridyam.in.
Around 2,000 children were born a year with heart problems in the State, the Minister said. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram; Lissey Hospital, Aster Medcity and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi; Government Medical College, Kottayam, and Believers Church Medical College, Thiruvalla were the empanelled hospitals.
Financial aid
The government would provide financial assistance for surgeries performed at private hospitals.
The Minister said efforts were on to convert selected primary health centres as family health centres.