The Assam government on Saturday entered into an agreement with a Gujarat-based charitable healthcare trust for free-of-cost treatment of cardiac ailments for patients from economically weaker sections of the North Eastern state.

The Health and Family Welfare department signed the MoU with Gujarat’s Prashanti Medical Services and Research Foundation (PMSRF), under which 1,000 patients from Assam will be able to avail this facility over a period of two years.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this initiative will be available for both adults and children suffering from heart problems and will also cover expenses for surgical procedures.

"Patients from the state will be able to avail the treatment at the Sri Sathya Sai Heart Hospitals at Ahmadabad and Rajkot, run by the PMSRF. While the trust will take care of the medical expenses, the state government will provide the travel allowance and other related expenses for the patients and attendants," he said.

The chief minister also requested the hospital authorities to provide training facilities for nurses and other support staff of cardiac department of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

"The doctors operate the patients for a fixed duration of time and after that the patients spend more time with the nurses and other support staff. Better training of these staff will ensure better care for the patients," he said.

The chief minister mentioned that the state government has been providing free-of-cost treatment for children with coronary heart disease since 2009 through a tie up with Narayana Hrudayalaya, which has now been extended to other private hospitals in Guwahati too.

The number of minors to have benefitted through it will touch 10,000 by next month, he added.

"The existing initiative was only for children and the state government had to reimburse to the hospital the expenses of the medical procedures. But through this latest MoU, adult patients will also be covered and the government does not have to pay anything for the treatment," Sarma said.

The CM also thanked Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court R M Chhaya, under whose initiative the pact was inked with PMSRF.