Jharkhand would join Odisha and Bihar among eastern states to have an agreement for free cardiac treatment for poor patients at Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospitals in Gujarat.

Additional chief secretary health Arun Kumar Singh said that after the cabinet nod for signing of the agreement on Friday evening, the health department is pursuing an early signing of the MoU with Prashanti Medical Services and Research Foundation (PMSRF).

“After the cabinet sanction on Friday we are working for an early inking of a formal MoU so that poor can avail benefit of free cardiac treatment at the earliest. We are working towards the signing of the agreement before August 15,” said the senior bureaucrat.

Sources in the health department revealed that the agreement would be for three years. “The agreement would be for a period of three years and would be subject to extension. Initially we have a plan for providing free cardiac treatment to 1,000 patients in the three years. However, upon mutual agreement the period and number of patients can be increased in the long run based on the response,” said a senior official in the health department.

Significantly, Odisha was the first state in the eastern India to ink an agreement with PMSRF in 2018 while Bihar followed suit with an agreement in March 2022.

“As per the agreement, 500 heart patients in the age group of 3 months to 18 years will be treated at Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital, Ahmedabad, and another 500 patients between age group of 18 years to 65 years will be treated at Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital, Rajkot. A total of 1,000 patients with heart related issues will be treated free of cost,” said principal secretary, cabinet Vandana Dadel after the cabinet’s meeting on Friday evening.

“The poor and needy children and adults will immensely benefit from the agreement. In the agreement to be inked soon the state government would identify and bear the transportation cost of ailing person. All the treatment services will be free of cost,” said the health official.All pre and post-operative care of patients at the hospital, including medicines, stents, coils and others would be borne by the foundation.

The transport assistance will be provided by the state government to the patients along with escorts referred to PMSRF.The 80-bed Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital in Rajkot was established in 2000 while 310-bed Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospital in Ahmedabad treats 3000 children annually.In another significant decision, the cabinet on Friday evening approved Rs 396 crore for a new 500-bed hospital at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital, Jamshedpur.

The biggest state-owned multi-specialty hospital at present has 540 beds.“The decision was taken as several parts of the over six decades old hospital had become dilapidated. The new structures would be built in a phase-wise manner without affecting patients treatment in the hospital at Jamshedpur. As per plans the total structure would be overhauled in two years,” said a health department official.