The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, will implement the Tamil Nadu Health System Reform Programme (TNHSRP) with funding support from the World Bank.
According to a press release, the total project cost is ₹2,857.003 crore. Of this, ₹1,999.902 crore is funded by the World Bank. On June 4, a loan agreement was signed in New Delhi between the Government of India, represented by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu, represented by Beela Rajesh, Health Secretary and the World Bank, represented by Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director.
The goal of the five-year project is to improve the quality of care, strengthen the management of non-communicable diseases (NCD) and injuries, and reduce the inequities in reproductive and child health services in the State.
The proposed activities include improving quality of care in all government health institutions, including interventions to address quality of care in primary, secondary and tertiary-level facilities, NQAS and NABH quality accreditation of select hospitals and primary health centres, interventions for screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of NCDs, improved mental health programme, reduction of deaths due to road traffic accidents and strengthening of reproductive and child health programme.
On Friday, a team from the World Bank handed over the agreement to Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar. The Minister told reporters that the State government would make an investment of ₹857.101 crore for the programme. It would be launched soon, and its implementation would begin in July.
“The main objective of the programme is providing quality healthcare. It will focus on NCDs such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, hypertension and diabetes,” he said. The World Bank funding has come based on the State’s performance and infrastructure in the healthcare sector, he said.
On AIIMS
He denied reports that land was still not allocated for the upcoming All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Thoppur.
“The title of the land is with the Tamil Nadu Health Department. We have given 220 acres of land for AIIMS according to survey number. A team from JICA and Central government officials will be inspecting the land on June 10. They will be here for five days,” he said. He added that it was after the land allocation that tender was floated for construction of compound wall at a cost of ₹17 crore.
