The State government will focus more on programmes to improve maternal and child health in the State, with an accent on early screening and treatment of children for various disabilities, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said.
Inaugurating the silver jubilee year celebrations of Child Development Centre at the Medical College hospital here, he said the soon-to-be launched Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana, which ensured totally free delivery care right from transportation to hospital and back as well as free food and hospital expenses, would be a major initiative of the government in this direction.
The Government has launched many welfare programmes in the health sector, all intended to provide free healthcare to anyone coming to the government hospitals. Generic drugs will be available in all government hospitals absolutely free of cost from November 1 onwards, which will go a long way in reducing the out-of-pocket expenditure of common man. The government is also trying to make available for free, drugs for cancer and various renal diseases also.
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He said the State had been allocated Rs.563 cr. under NRHM this year and that all steps were being taken, including monthly reviews to ensure that the money was utilised effectively.
Mr. Sivakumar lauded the CDC for the seminal work it had been doing for the past 25 years in reducing childhood disabilities and in improving adolescent health.
Director of CDC M.K.C Nair said the institute, which was launched as a small project in 1987 to screen babies with low birth weight, had grown in stature. It was also a State-level training institute for developing human resources.
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