Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Thursday, September 11, announced that the government would honour organ donors by creating “walls of honour” across government medical college hospitals in the state. The initiative will begin at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai, he said.
The Minister made the announcement at an event organised by Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, marking over 50 liver transplants completed under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS). The CMCHIS is a state initiative that provides medical treatment, including organ transplants, to economically weaker sections through empanelled government and private hospitals.
Currently, the scheme is implemented in 2,641 hospitals across Tamil Nadu, including 964 government and 1,267 private hospitals.
“Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in various sectors of healthcare. The CMCHIS scheme was launched by M. Karunanidhi in July 2009. After 10 years, in 2018, the Union government sent officials to study the scheme for possible implementation at the national level,” the Minister said.
He added that flagship initiatives like CMCHIS and Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam (Healthcare at People’s Doorstep) were first launched by the Tamil Nadu government before being adopted nationally. Since its inception, 1.48 crore people have benefited from CMCHIS, availing treatments such as liver and bone marrow transplants, he said.
Others present at the event included Dr. P Senthil Kumar, Principal Health Secretary to the Tamil Nadu government; Sindoori Reddy, Director of Strategy, Apollo Hospitals Group; Dr Ilankumaran Kaliyamoorthy, CEO of Apollo Group; as well as several beneficiaries of liver transplants.