Vatsyayan Kendra opens

SURAT, MAY 30: Health Minister Ashokbhat Bhatt on Sunday inaugurated the 8220;Vatsyayan Kendra8221; at the New Civil Hospital here. The Kendra will be a nodal centre offering laboratory services, diagnosis, treatment and counselling services for patients suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. Trained consultants from the hospital will offer their services at the centre that will cater to the needs of patients from the New Civil Hospital and those referred by private practitioners. Modern facilities of laboratory investigations and diagnosis for all STDs will be available at the centre.

Complete confidentiality regarding patients attending the clinic will be maintained. Such kendras are being set up in all government teaching hospitals in Gujarat as part of the state government8217;s efforts to control STDs. Speaking on the occasion, Bhatt said a health check-up campaign that would cover about one crore children from the state would be launched from June 26. A special study group headed by Dr Devendra Triguna had been set up to carry out research in AIDS and STDs, he said. After Vadodara, Surat becomes the second city in Gujarat where a 8220;Vatsyayan Kendra8221; has come up.

He said the government intended to carry out as many as two lakh cataract operations by December 1999, out of which 51,000 operations had been successfully conducted so far.