Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday met 500 children who underwent heart operations under the 'Mukhyamantri Baal Hruday Suraksha Yojana' at 'Dil Se Dil Ki Baat' programme organised by a private electronic news channel at Pandit Deendayal Auditorium here.
The Chief Minister said that the scheme brings smiles back on the faces of children. This scheme is dearer to my heart. About 500 children have been operated upon since the launch of the project in the year 2008.
The project covers children up to the age 15 years of age and the operations are done free of charge. The programme was organized by Health Department in co-operation with the Narayana Hrudayala (MMI) Raipur. He said that quality medicare will be prvided to everybody.
Singh said that poor citizens find it extremely difficult to treat their children with heart ailments. The State Government had been allocating 5.6 per cent of the G.D.P. on health services and the national average is only 1.3 per cent.
While referring to the Satya Sai Educational Trust run Sanjeevni Hospital based at Naya Raipur, the Chief Minister said that the hospital had already successfully operated upon 4k kids free of cost.
He expressed his gratitude to all the doctors who co-operated with the scheme.
The Chief Minister said that high-quality medicare is also being provided in the far-flung regions of Bastar district. The Budget allocated to Health department had been increased from `300 crore to `4, 000 crore.
About `175 crore had been set apart from the District Minerals' Fund also.