Mega cashless healthcare plan for poor

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 14

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda on Monday said 1,392 procedures and treatment protocols had been identified under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission. It would help reduce the burden of life-threatening diseases through early detection.

He was speaking at the MoU signing ceremony between the Centre and five state for the health scheme here. He later inaugurated a national workshop on “Risk Communication during Public Health Emergencies.”

The MoU was signed by Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. It will ensure cashless and paperless health cover of Rs 5 lakh to 50 crore people across the country. Even though Punjab Health Minister Brahm Mohindra was there, he refused to sign it.

Nadda said a meeting of the National Health Council would be held shortly so that issues concerning quality healthcare for the poor could be addressed. “Such a gigantic health programme could have been provided by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi only,” he said.

“The thrust of the Modi regime is to ensure preventive rather than curative treatment which will reduce the disease burden drastically,” said Nadda. He added that the thrust would be on early diagnosis of diseases and everyone above the age of 30 years would undergo universal health checkup for various diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac, cervix and breast cancer among women, oral cancer, dental and eye care.

Hospitals had been empanelled to treat patients and since money would be directly deposited to the hospital accounts, IT companies had been engaged to ensure its smooth implementation. Nadda revealed that there are 1.50 lakh sub-centres in the country which would be converted from mother-child care centres to wellness centres.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said Himachal had six government medical colleges and it had been decided to establish a medical university for their effective management. He said the Centre had sanctioned an AIIMS for Himachal which would come up at Kothipura in Bilaspur district. He said the Union Government had sanctioned Rs 1,351 crore for AIIMS.

Chief Minister of Uttrakhand TS Rawat said Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand share similar topography and geographical conditions and providing healthcare facilities to patients in the remote areas were challenging. He said for this, all big hospitals were being developed as e-hospitals.

Health and Family Welfare Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Dr Davinder Kumar Maniyal were also present.