They will be under the control of Director of Public Health
The State government has proposed to set up 135 primary health centres in small towns and cities with a population of less than one lakh. These urban PHCs will be under the control of the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, according to Principal Secretary, Health, Girija Vaidhyanathan.
She was speaking at the inauguration of a daylong summit ‘New frontiers in healthcare — opportunities and challenges,’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry here on Saturday.
Although the State had done well in various health indicators compared to other States in the country, much more needed to be done to improve healthcare delivery when the State is compared to neighbouring Kerala or Sri Lanka, both of which had low infant mortality rates.
With a view to remaining focussed on improving the health of women and children, the government had created a database of 15 lakh pregnant women. Incentives to the women had been increased to ensure institutionalised deliveries.
Despite these achievements, the Health Department needed to gear up for tackling dengue and the State continues to face the challenge thrown up by malaria.
While the government proposed to set up regional centres for cancer treatment, she said there was potential to improve the health insurance scheme, the diagnostic facilities and concentrate on training and skill building.
The private sector should look to better their methods of contracting labour and explore options to provide affordable healthcare if the vision 2023 to build a healthy society should materialise.
The summit is being held to address the poor-rich divide in healthcare availability, said convener S. Chandrakumar. There were four panel discussions that included doctors from various corporate hospitals and heads of insurance companies.
Issues such as methods of achieving universal healthcare, use of technology to deliver services, need for accreditation to ensure quality and delivering healthcare at a low cost were discussed.
Tamil Nadu CII vice-chairman Narayan Sethuramon said that healthcare industry in India, which was worth $36 billion and growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent, would be a $280-billion industry by 2022.
The sector had the potential to be an engine of growth and create 70-80 million jobs and add two to three per cent to the gross domestic product.
Keywords: primary health centres, healthcare delivery
I strongly condemn the goverment for wasting money on building PHC'S in urban area. The fundamental principle of Primary healthcare is to provide service where the private parties are reluctant to start businesses. Wheras in the urban area especially in Tamilnadu there are plenty of doctors. Govt. can purchase the service from them which would cost a fraction of what govt. is intending to spend. I know why they are bringing it. Rich politicians and IAS officers ward also need to do service in PHC for 3 years if they want to enjoy Postgraduate admission in Government. Tnhey would post their wards in these urban area and count it towards it. I wonder whether anyone of Girija's children is doing medicine here. It's a colossal waste of taxpayers money. There are plenty of remote areas in Tamilnadu which I have visited doesn't have access to paracetamol and ORS salt(a salt used to treat diarrhoeal illness).Instead of spending money there these people are wasting it.
Why make a song and dance about creating some 135 primary health
centres in towns with a population nof a lakh when the government has
been insisting on banks and financial instituions tro extend financial
inclusion to villages of 2000 population nby openihng branches of
banks and financial institutions. IN nfact after 6 decades of
idnependdence we should ahve attained a state where every village of
1000 poopulation has basic medical faciliteis in a oprimary health
centre. Then nonly India can become really strong. From the bottom
level that is. An urgent nneed to revise our parameters of future
progress.
That view should have obviously undergone a sea change in these years.
There should be periodic inspection of thesse primary health centes by
qualified perosonnel. The first move of the government should be to
ensure that there is a primatry health centre in as many villages as
possible. It is a long term process and with the move to introduce new
pattern of medical education, this should be possible in a decade or
so, if not earlier.Forq utie sometime now we are hearing or aseeing in
TVhorror stories of poor or hazardous treatment at the lcoal
hospitals. That should not happen in TN. The world at large still
thinks of India as a nation that ignroes health. A few yuears ago, The
Daily Telegraph wrote on delhi that while it has slick flyovers and
state of the art hosopitals, its disasdvantaged women give birth to
babies undattended. If this is the sitaution in our Capital, imagine
what would be the sitatuion in villages. Less talk on GDP growth and
more work on improving health.
We have a long way to go. How anachornistic it is that government is
fixing a population of l lakh to be able to get one of the 135 primary
health centres it intends to start. Compare this to the aim of the
government towards financial inclusion by ensuring that there is a
bank for every vilalge of 1000 or 2000 population.The first thing
the TN govt. should do is to rexamine forthwith the criterion of 1
lakh population. Every village of some 2000 population should be
getting a opriamry health centere. It is good that CII associated
itself with such seminars. More such is in keeping with the business’
interest in espousing corproate social responsibility. It is good that
the governmetn is preparing a data bank of pregnant women, some 15
lakh. An article in the EPW a few years back spoke of the rural people
haivng more faith in the local ‘midwife’ for their women’s deliveries
than approaching the primary health centre. That view should have
obviously undergone a sea change in these years.
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