Minister for Health and Finance T. Harish Rao on Friday inaugurated a Monitoring Hub to keep a tab on the functioning of 887 public health centres (PHCs) across the State with the help of CCTV cameras.
Speaking after inaugurating the hub, the Minister said closed-circuit cameras installed at the PHCs were linked to the offices of the Director of Public Health, Commissioner of Family Welfare and Telangana State Medical Services, and Infrastructure Development Corporation. The system would not only help the authorities in the State headquarters to keep a tab on the functioning of the PHCs but also give instructions and suggestions when needed.
The system would also help the doctors working for PHCs monitor their pharmacy and lab there. Further, it would enable the PHC doctors to contact the medical colleges and district hospitals through video-link and extend speciality health services, if need be. The system would also provide safety and security to the employees.
Stating that it was the first such system to be established in the public health system across the country Mr. Harish Rao said it was aimed at strengthening the primary healthcare system. The Minister said new buildings were constructed for 43 PHCs with a cost of ₹67 crore and repairs to 372 PHCs’ buildings were taken up with a cost of ₹43.18 crore.
Further, construction of new buildings was taken up for 1,239 health sub-centers at a cost of ₹20 lakh each, and another 1,497 sub-centers were being repaired at a cost of ₹4 lakh each. Stating that the Munugode by-election had delayed the process of appointment of doctors, the Minister said a merit list was already announced for 969 posts and appointment letters would be issued in a week or 10 days making available doctors at PHCs.
The Minister said the recruitment process for 1,569 posts for Palle Dawakhanas too would be commenced soon. The number of Basthi Dawakhanas in urban areas would be increased to 500 from the present 331. He stated that the handling of about 2.11 crore outpatients so far by Basthi Dawakhanas had reduced the burden on hospitals such as Osmania and Gandhi. It had come down to five lakh in Osmania from 12 lakh in 2019 and to 3.7 lakh from 6.5 lakh in Gandhi, to 5.5 lakh from 8 lakh in Niloufer and to two lakh from four lakh at Fever Hospital.
He also stated that about 6.46 crore lab tests were conducted for 36.2 lakh patients with the help of Telangana Diagnostics so far. He announced that notification for appointment of 1,165 specialist doctors as well as staff nurses would be taken up soon. He spoke to doctors and patients at Kushaiguda, Ambedkar Nagar (Suryapet district), Ambedkar Nagar (Siddipet) PHCs virtually through video-link.
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