The Tamil Nadu Health Development Association (TNHDA), an organisation of doctors and health activists, has demanded to the state government to intervene into the operations of the Chennai based multi-speciality NGO hospital & research institute, Voluntary Health Services (VHS), to save it from not diverting from its founder’s concept.

In the memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister and to the state health minister to this effect, it is stated that the abolished pharmacy and laboratory departments at the institute should be restarted immediately for the sake of the poor patients, and appoint a special audit team to inspect its income and expenditure.

The memorandum further sought the resumption of VHS Diabetes Centre and the two-year Diploma Course in Medical Lab Technology, which, it is alleged, the new management of the institution had suspended last year.

After submitting memorandum directly to the state health minister along with CPM MLA, Beema Rao, the secretary of the Association Dr C S Rex Sargunam alleged that the new management of the Institution has diverged in their activities from the original concept envisioned by the founder of VHS, the late Prof Dr K S Sanjivi. He alleged that now VHS does not have a 24-hour casualty service, due to which, the patients coming after 1 pm are getting services from doctors in the Intensive Care Units.

He demanded that instead of operating the newly established TAG-VHS Diabetes Research Centre, the institution’s own diabetes unit should resume its operation. The pharmacy, lab and the diabetes centre have been giving services on subsidised rates to the patients all these years.

TAG-Diabetes Centre is an advanced research unit started in March 2011 in tie up with private companies. The Diabetes department at VHS was started in 1965 and has made significant strides since then. It offered diabetic patients a decent affordable consultancy and specialized services and took care of routine out-patient and in-patient diabetic care, covering all complications and emergencies. Dr Rex further alleged that now the patients coming into VHS Diabetes centre are diverted to TAG-Diabetes which is charging high fees.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Dr Rex said the government of Tamil Nadu gave 25 acres of land for the hospital in 1958 and every year an amount of Rs.60 lakh is getting as grant for its operations. The hospital’s specialised departments like haemophilia unit, blood bank, de-addiction centre, AIDS control cell and diabetes unit are functioning well without any problem since their inception. There was an expert team of doctors in the ICU, but now all of them have been shifted to various departments. TNHDA has demanded in the memorandum that the old team should be re-appointed.

The TNHDA secretary alleged that the Institute is not spending the money wisely. It has got Rs.3 crore as compensation from highways department for disposing a portion of its land in 2006, and one family gave Rs.1 crore as donation. He said the money should be deposited as FD in some banks and its interest must be utilised for the development of the organisation rather than distributing the amount to each department for yearly expenditure.