In a major initiative on preventive healthcare, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced a comprehensive AMMA Master Health Check-Up plan in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday, as part of a slew of schemes.
The announcements signalled the expansion of welfare schemes under ‘AMMA’ brand, with Tuesday alone witnessing four new plans.
Making a statement under Rule 110 of the Assembly, Ms. Jayalalithaa said it was possible to cure diseases if they were diagnosed at an early stage.
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Since the government medical college hospitals already have the necessary infrastructure, the government had decided to launch the master health check-up as a pilot programme at the Chennai Government General Hospital.
This will help those sections that cannot afford such tests in private hospitals.
The Chief Minister said the check-up will have blood, urine, sugar and cholesterol tests, chest x-rays, liver and thyroid screening etc.
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The Woman Special Master Health Check-up, will, apart from the above tests, include pap smear, digital mammogram, parathyroid hormone screening and so on.
“A very low fee will be charged for the tests,” she said, adding that a fund of Rs. 10 crore has been allocated for purchase of equipment.
At the 385 upgraded block-level Primary Healthcare Centres in the State, the public can access services such as blood and urine testing, ECG etc for two days in a week free of cost.
The scheme would be christened “AMMA Arogya”.
The Chief Minister said, following a letter to the Prime Minister, the Union Government has accepted her request to accord the status of Centre of Excellence to the Adyar Cancer Institute.
The institution would be strengthened at a cost of Rs. 120 crore. Ms. Jayalalithaa said 10 new PHCs would be constructed this year at a cost of Rs. 6 crore and ten PHCs would be upgraded into 30-bed hospitals.
Twelve new blood banks, ten storage centres and ten blood collection units would be set up in the State at a cost of Rs. 12.12 crore.
Twenty new vehicles to drop the mother and new born from government hospitals to their homes would be acquired.
Fifty old ambulances would be replaced with new ones.
Also, HbA1C analysers to ascertain 3-month average sugar levels and Cell Counters would be provided to 302 government hospitals.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said an extra Rs. 25 crore would be remitted to the corpus fund created to take care of additional costs incurred over and above the limit of Rs. 1.5 crore permitted under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, for patients undergoing five types of surgeries, such as liver and kidney transplant and stem cell therapy.
While Pudukottai will get a new government medical college hospital, a dental college will be established in south Tamil Nadu
The announcements signalled the expansion of welfare schemes under ‘AMMA’ brand