Tamil Nadu has possibly become the first state in the world to offer free cosmetic breast implant surgery to the poor.
A clinic at Stanley Medical College will be the go to place for both men and women who need a confidence boost by reducing or adding to their breast size.
State’s Health Minister, C Vijaya Bhaskar, was quoted as saying, 'If we don’t offer, the women will opt for dangerous methods or take huge loans.’
The hospital has already been providing free reconstructive surgery to cancer patients. Breast cancer is the number one cancer among women in India, where survival rates are among the lowest in the world, according to a Lancet study.
But seeking breast implants to augment the organ have shot up in India. According to a study quoted in The Guardian 33,000 cosmetic surgeries were carried out in India in 2016.
Times of India quoted a former public health director for the state, Dr S Elango, as saying, “It sounds populist, but it is not an ideal public health programme.”
(With inputs from Times of India)
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