Tamil Nadu: Centre of Excellence for rare diseases inaugurated at VHS

CHENNAI: To provide relief to the patients suffering from rare diseases in Tamil Nadu, a Centre of Excellence for rare disorders (CERD) has been launched at Voluntary Health Services (VHS). The CERD has been launched to provide comprehensive health care services to rare disease patients to support the department of maternal and child health of VHS. Dr J. Radhakrishnan, health secretary of Tamil Nadu launched the centre, actor Karthi Sivakumar, Dr S Suresh, secretary, VHS and Dr Sujatha Jagadeesh, head of the department of clinical genetics, Mediscan were also present at the event.

The centre will provide the treatment for rare diseases, give supportive treatment, monitor the patients' conditions regularly and also provide rehabilitation services. “The centre would create awareness on birth defects and disorders, but also provide timely access to patients who need diagnosis, intervention and treatment for these diseases. 

With the lack of such a facility, a majority of the patients were at a loss as to how to cope with these critical conditions they are born with.  However, now, with the launch of this centre, patients can undergo timely treatment which would improve their quality of life,” said Dr Sujatha Jagadeesh.