The Telangana state government has embarked on a unique healthcare initiative of supporting free organ transplantation surgeries under Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme and at the same time established a special fund to procure costly imported medicines to supply free of cost to the patients undergoing transplantation surgeries.

According to Dr. C.Laxma Reddy, Minister for Medical Health and Family Welfare, government of Telangana, the main objective of this initiative is to help provide high quality and most advanced treatment to the poorest of the poor suffering from chronic organ failure diseases in the state. “The state government of Telangana is giving highest priority to healthcare in the state and is taking every step to improve quality of healthcare standards in the government hospitals and at the same time supporting organ transplantation free of cost to poor patients in the state under Aarogyasree Scheme,” said Dr. Reddy.

Since the launch of this new initiative in June 2016, the government had supported over 6 heart transplant and 10 liver transplant surgeries free of cost to the poor patients giving them a new lease of life.

While reviewing the patients undergone heart surgeries in Global hospital last week, the minister termed Aarogyasri Scheme as a blessing to the poor as it is a unique healthcare initiative implemented nowhere in the country except in Telangana. “Just imagine a few years ago, if a poor patient is suffering from chronic complex disease or any organ failure disease, they were just left to die as they could not access and afford modern and advanced healthcare facilities. But now with the initiatives of Telangana government, the poorest of the poor can get highest quality super specialty healthcare treatment, but can also avail complex heart transplantation and liver transplantation surgeries, free of cost under Aarogyasri,” said the minister.

The minister praised the corporate hospitals for extending their helping hand in further supporting the novel initiatives taken up by the government to improve quality of healthcare in the state. “The support given by the corporate hospitals in extending the benefits of Aarogyasri to the poor patients is commendable. Despite of financial constrains, the corporate hospitals have come forward and contributed their corporate social responsibility and scarified their profits for the benefit of social cause,” observed the minister.  

Not just supporting free organ transplant surgeries, the government has also established a special fund for procuring costly medicines especially for the patients who have undergone organ transplant surgeries. “We know that patients who have undergone organ transplant need to have costly imported medicines lifelong. As the poor patients could not afford this, the government had set up a special fund and procuring the costly medicines and supplying to the patients free of cost,” informed Dr. Reddy.