The government has been focussing on bringing in a total system change in the State’s health sector by revamping primary health care and tackling new generation health challenges, Health Minister K. K. Shylaja said in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Replying to a discussion on the demand for grants for Health and Social Justice, she said the changes brought about in the health sector in the past two years since Mission Aardram had been launched were unprecedented. Regardless of party affiliations, all the MLAs must have observed the positive effect of these changes in their respective constituencies, she pointed out.
Mission Aardram was launched as an exercise in studying and tackling the State’s new health challenges, such as rising out of pocket expenditure on health and the huge increase in non-communicable diseases.
Brave decision
The government did not have any model before it when it took the brave decision to convert primary health centres in the State as family health centres (FHCs) so that it would deliver primary, preventive and curative care. In the first phase, 170 PHCs have been revamped as FHCs and these have been changing the perception of health delivery through public health institutions, Ms. Shylaja said.
The modernisation and infrastructure improvement of taluk and district hospitals and medical colleges have also been happening on the side. As many as 47 taluk hospitals already have dialysis units, eight district hospitals and two medical colleges have been equipped with cath labs.
