The state has received tenders and is negotiating with companies such as Medtronics, Misomi, Medanta, Apollo Group and Yashoda Hospitals presently
“UP will be aggressive in its endeavour to reform healthcare in the state,” said a confident Sidhartha Nath Singh, Minister for Health, Government of Uttar Pradesh (UP), in an interaction with Express Healthcare, during a symposium on cross national learnings for improving Health Systems Quality in India organised by Harvard Chan School of Public Health- India Research Center.
The minister was in Mumbai today, to inaugurate the Harvard Chan School of Public Health- India Research Center as well as meet Indian and international investor in preparing the UP Investors’ Summit to be held in December. The minister spoke on various initiatives taken up by the government to strengthen healthcare progress in the state. He emphasised on maximum use of technology to strengthen its healthcare network, from basic primary health centres to multi-speciality hospitals.
He informed that the state has increased the number of doctors by 4000. The initial shortage was around 7500 doctors. They have included 2800 AYUSH doctors and 1000 BDS doctors to serve the patients at the PHCs. Around 300 mobile medical units will be launched soon. Also, the number of infant deaths have been brought down from 4500 to 1700 this year. Around 9.3 million children have been vaccinated untill May 2017. Moreover, the state is also incorporating digital technologies to improve public health. The state has also received entry level accreditation from NABH for 12 district hospitals.
In order to curb the incidence of oral cancers and improve oral health, the state will soon launch a programme focussed to improve oral health. When asked about the how the government plans to improve and strengthen the governance of health initiatives, he replied, “None of these initiatives will go without governance. In the last one year, we have tracked down on corruption in the NHM and also ensured elimination of blockages that are caused in the smooth functioning of our programmes. We have incorporated digital technologies to enhance governance. We have bifurcated zones in six clusters, which will be headed by special medical directors who will closely watch these programmes.”
The state is also looking to enhance their air quality index by way of specialised programmes in advocacy and more. “We will be open defecation free (ODF) by October 2018,” the minister announced.
In terms of making medicines affordable, he informed that UP did not have many Jan Aushadhi Kendras. The state will set up around 1000 centres and by this December, around 500 centres will be functional. The minister further disclosed that the UP government is looking forward to invite private sector investment in healthcare. “We have cleared the maximum norms as per the central government’s mandates making UP an investor-friendly business zone,” he mentioned.
“We are looking forward to foster the PPP model. I am confident of the packages that we design to attract partnerships. At the same time, we are conscious that the delivery mechanism should be proper and so we will be closely monitoring these mechanisms to make sure of quality access. With this, in coming times, we should be able to get around Rs 10,000-15,000 crore private sector investment through the PPP model in primary and secondary care.”
The minister revealed that the state has received tenders and is negotiating with companies such as Medtronics, Misomi, Medanta, Apollo Group and Yashoda Hospitals presently, the minister revealed.
Additionally, the minister will soon meet Ratan Tata to explore an opportunity to establish two cancer care hospitals in UP.
Going forward, the minister shared his views on the need for an Universal Insurance Scheme for India that is robust and inclusive. “India for a long time focussed on mother and child development when it comes to health programmes. Although, we have done good work on that front and we will continue to do so, we also need to focus on other aspects of health. We will soon be launching a new robust insurance scheme under the RSBY programme which will extend the payment limit from Rs 30,000 to 2.5 lakh,” he summed up.
Well, the above mentioned action plan and initiatives seems impressive so far but all this can only be convinced by measurable outcomes. We will have to wait and watch on how these plan roll out and how these initiatives positively impact the health indices of the state.
- Advertisement -
Comments are closed.