Upgraded health centre opened at Shivanjali

FOR HEALTH CARE: Vice-President and Head of Coimbatore Operations of Cognizant Technology Solutions Vishnu Potty (right) and Cognizant Foundation Chief Executive Officer S. Madhavan (second right) take a look at the equipment in the upgraded health centre of Shivanjali Trust at Pappanaickenpudur in Coimbatore on Tuesday. 

An out-patient health centre for women and children has been upgraded into an in-patient facility at Shivanjali at Pappanaickenpudur in the city.

The upgraded facility – Siva Shantha Mother and Child Health Centre – has24 beds and an intensive care unit with four beds.

The Cognizant Foundation has provided Rs.15 lakh to turn the out-patient facility into a basic child and mother care hospital, including maternity services.

Shivanjali Trust, which runs the hospital, has said in a press release that the funds from the foundation were used for the purchase of equipment for the operation theatre, the labour ward and the patient recovery area.

The upgraded centre was inaugurated on Tuesday, as part of a number of events held over three days to mark the fifth Mahasamadhi Aradhana of Shivanjali's founder Shantanan Saraswathi.

Chief Executive Officer of the foundation S. Madhavan said it provided funds under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme to improve facilities in education and health care.

Corporation social responsibility had to step in where poverty denied access to quality education and health care, he said. “We are happy to join Shivanjali Trust in the service to poor through this medical centre,” he said.

Cognizant Technology Solutions' Vice-President and Head of Operations in Coimbatore Vishnu Potty listed the support it had provided under its CSR initiative in Coimbatore, such as a computer laboratory at Don Bosco Anbu Illam, solid waste management programme at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and funds to purchase an operating microscope for Sankara Eye Centre.

Head of Sri Muthukrishna Swami Mission Trust in Tirunelveli Vithamma said health care service to the poor should not be run as a business.

While there were hospitals run as part of an industry, there was need for some to render free service to the poor, she said.

Senior Medical Officer of the centre Uma Deavi said money would not be a criterion for treatment. “Patients need to give only whatever they can. We do not intend to run the centre with money from the patients alone. Money can come from other sources,” she said.

Director of EMS Asia Group in Malaysia Sivaramakrishnan Venkataraman spoke.

 Source-Hindu