Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said the biggest challenge before the cardiac surgeons was to bring down the cost of cardiovascular surgeries to an affordable cost. He exhorted the doctors to innovate devices that were inexpensive and would bring down the cost of treatment for the ordinary man.

Inaugurating the 49th Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons in Hyderabad on Thursday night, Naidu assured the gathering that he would persuade the Centre on import duty exemptions on hi-tech medical equipment.

Outlining the measures initiated by the state government to augment healthcare, the Chief Minister said the government was ready to extend help to anyone willing to set up a cardiovascular-thoracic unit in the state.

The Chief Minister said he received requests almost every day for assistance from the CM's Relief Fund for heart surgeries. Most of the patients were youth and children. Naidu offered to give land and grants if the Association came forward to set up a research center in Hyderabad.

Home Minister T Devender Goud released a souvenir. Union Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya inaugurated the CME programme of the three-day meeting. About 1,000 delegates from India and abroad are attending the seminar. Among the panelists were even CT surgeons from Srinagar, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai.

President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam earlier participated in a Teleconference betweenRashtrapati Bhavan and Taj Krishna in Hyderabad. For the first time in India, a 384-kbpstelephone line of BSNL was used for the teleconference.