Following the Centre’s directive to prepare a plan for implementation of the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) in the 12th Five-Year Plan, the State will establish comprehensive primary health centres in all wards of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike by April 2013. Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary M. Madan Gopal told presspersons here Friday that the department will seek Rs. 150 crore to Rs. 200 crore Central funds under NUHM per year by January 2013.
What the centres have
Comprehensive primary health centres, equivalent to primary health centres (PHCs), will cater to the urban population. Each centre will have a laboratory, doctor, pharmacist and a counsellor for treating patients at the ward-level. Currently, there are 92 PHCs in the city.
Free service
Services at the comprehensive primary health centres will be free and NUHM will be gradually extended to other city corporations in the State in the next one or two years.
Each primary care unit will cover 40,000 to 50,000 people. The city’s population has grown by 134 per cent during 1991-2011, making it one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities. Its current numbers, according to the 2011 Census, is 9.59 million.
More hospitals
The mission envisages 30 to 100-bed hospitals in all the 28 Legislative Assembly constituencies in the city and major hospitals (100 beds) in all eight zones. Currently there are four major hospitals in four zones.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will implement the project with his department’s support, Mr. Gopal said. Health cards will be issued to the needy.
Earlier, Health Minister Aravind Limbavali and Mr. Gopal held a meeting with stakeholders and discussed the proposed healthcare plans for the city.
NUHM will be managed by an advisory committee headed by the Chief Minister. There would be a steering committee and a Bangalore health task force headed by the Health Department Principal Secretary and the Mayor, respectively.
