Aakar Asha Hospital in Hyderabad will launch a "One Rupee Reconstruction Campaign" to provide reconstructive plastic surgery for Rs. 1 to disabled patients living in slums. The campaign aims to provide free consultation, blood tests, surgery and cover 75% of hospital expenses for 1,000 disabled patients over six months. Reconstructive surgeon Dr. Bharatendu Swain states that these surgeries can improve patients' quality of life. The hospital plans to hold camps in different parts of Hyderabad's twin cities to screen and select eligible patients.

1. HEALTHTHURSDAY 19 JUNE 2014
04
VENU K KODIMELA
P
lastic surgery at Re 1 sounds
like a farfetched dream but it
is true. The reconstructive
surgery, which costs lakh of rupees,
will now be offered at Re 1 for the
disabled living in slums of the twin
cities.
City based Aakar Asha Hospital
would be launching the ‘One Rupee
Reconstruction Campaign’ on July
13. It intends to cover 1,000 dis-
abled persons in the next six
months. The only thing that the pa-
tient has to do is to pay a token fee
of Re 1 for the surgery.
The fee covers consultation,
blood tests and reconstructive sur-
gery. Donors would take care of
cost of major and super major sur-
geries while Aakar Asha Trust
would take care of 75 per cent of ex-
penses incurred during hospitalisa-
tion.
Dr Bharatendu Swain, well
known reconstructive surgeon and
director of the hospital, said the first
camp would be organised on July
13. Patients from Kukatpally, Chan-
danagar, Ramchandra Puram and
nearby places would be screened in
the first phase.
“The poor with deformities and
disabilities can use the opportunity
to improve their quality of life,” says
Dr Swain.
There are large of number of peo-
ple with deformities and disabilities
in the country. The World Bank re-
port puts the figure between 50 and
80 million of which 49 per cent are
physically disabled. As per the 2001
census estimates, there are about 4.5
lakh physically disabled in undi-
vided Andhra Pradesh. Experts are
confident that 70 per cent of pa-
tients could be restored to near nor-
mality by appropriate surgical
interventions and applications.
Dr Swain said the hospital would
organise between 12 and 15 camps
in different parts of the twin cities
to cover those living in slums and
low income localities.
The Aakar Asha Trust, which
was started in 2004, has so far car-
ried out screening of more 1,500
disabled patients and conducted 850
reconstructive surgeries free of cost
across Andhra Pradesh. The surger-
ies cover polio or amputation,
burns, paralysis and birth deformi-
ties.
Plastic surgery at `1!
City hospital to cover 1000 disabled poor patients,initially
The fee covers
consultation, blood
tests and
reconstructive
surgery. Donors
would take care of
cost of major and
super major
surgeries while
Aakar Asha Trust
would take care of
75 per cent of
expenses incurred
during
hospitalisation
Aakar Asha Hospital
OUR BUREAU
U
S returned Rekha’s life was
shattered when she was told
that she was suffering from
tuberculosis. She went to a homeo-
pathic doctor in Vasavi Nagar recently
when she fell ill. The doctor suggested
a blood test for her at a well known di-
agnostic centre at Malkajgiri. The re-
port confirmed that she was infected
with TB. Shattered, she went to the
Government Chest Hospital at Erra-
gadda for treatment.
Her joy knew no bounds when she
was told that she was not suffering
from TB as her blood tests had indi-
cated. She underwent further tests to
confirm that she was fine. Patients like
Rekha, who feel cheated by TB Quan-
tiferon Gold test, make a beeline to the
Chest Hospital for confirmation every
day. Dr Subhakar Kandi, professor of
the pulmonary medicine at Govern-
ment Chest Hospital, said the TB
Quantiferon Gold test does not give a
conclusive report on the presence of
active bacterium. According to re-
ports, 40 per cent Indians have inactive
bacterium and those with active bac-
terium are subjected treatment. The
World Health Organisation had
banned the blood test for screening of
TB as other reliable tests are available
at an affordable price. Yet the doctors
and hospitals subject the patients to
such tests.
The TB Quantiferon Gold test is in-
dicate of inactive bacteria in the body
rather than active bacteria. 64,000
people have been diagnosed as suffer-
ing from active bacteria in the country.
Dr Subhakar said the patients with
active bacterium are treated with avail-
able drugs. “We get 5 to 6 such cases
every day at the out patients wing of
the hospital. Unfortunately, some of
the doctors have been recommending
serum tests, which can cause serious
damage to patient in general and the
society at large, if the patients are not
suffering from the TB.
Moreover, if the doctor goes ahead
with treatment, then the bacterium
would develop resistance,” he ex-
plained. An intervention by consor-
tium of laboratories in private sector--
Initiative for Promoting Affordable
Quality TB Tests (IPAQT) has
brought the costs down to Rs 1,600. It
would take two hours to announce the
result.
Though cheap options are available
to patients, some of doctors including
homeopaths are prescribing the blood
test for TB for Rs 2,500. The drug con-
troller had failed to destroy the kits of
TB Quantiferon Gold though the tests
were banned way back in December
2011.
Banned TB blood test continues to haunt patients
The World Health
Organisation had
banned the blood test
for screening of TB as
other reliable tests are
available at an
affordable price. Yet
the doctors and
hospitals subject the
patients to such tests
One of the patients who underwent the plastic surgery