Health shield for nation

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Health shield for nation

Thursday, 26 September 2019 | Ashwini Kumar Choubey

Health shield for nation

The MOS for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, says that the Government is celebrating Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara, a fortnight-long national campaign to enhance awareness around the preventive, promotive and curative aspects of health care, nutrition and yoga

  • Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Scheme aimed to cover over 10 crore people. Since its inception, how many lives have been touched and turned around?

Within a short span of time, the Ayushman Bharat scheme has made 21,000 Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) which cover a target population of 5 crore and have seen a footfall of 1,70,63,522  patients. Approximately 47 lakh people have availed treatment under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). This flagship scheme aims to provide universal health care to the poor, needy and vulnerable sections of the country.

We have also linked the Ayushman Bharat with Eat Right movement. Through this we are trying to make people aware about things like — kam khao, hit ke anusar khao, ritu ke anusar khao. The movement is about eating less sugar, salt and oily food to ensure the well-being of people. It is a step towards eating healthy. We are creating awareness about malnutrition, a condition that causes many health problems, and also educating pregnant women about what they should eat and drink because that is the main source of baby’s nourishment.

PMJAY covers 50 crore poor and vulnerable people in the country. It provides a health assurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care for serious and catastrophic illnesses. It also provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

  • What are your future plans?

We aim to build 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres by December 2022, which would provide comprehensive primary care (CPHC) including preventive and promotive healthcare. Besides providing good healthcare services, the scheme aims to achieve its vision of increasing employment in the health sector. An indigenous healthcare setup is coming up, and the infrastructure will develop further, especially in tier II and tier III towns.

  • Cancer is a lifestyle disease. While there are constant campaigns about the use of tobacco, how does the Ministry intend to tackle it and promote healthier lifestyles?

The Ministry is concerned about promoting healthier lifestyles among people. More than 70 lakh people have been treated, around 1.3 crore were screened for diabetes and more than 31 lakh people are being treated for it.

Those who display the symptoms of the disease are referred to the higher public healthcare facilities for diagnosis and treatment. More than 76 lakh population has been screened for oral cavity cancer and out of these, 10,218 people are being treated. While more than 53 lakh women have been screened for breast cancer, around 9,700 women are on treatment and more than 37 lakh women were screened for cervical cancer and around 10,000 women are on treatment. In addition, more than 1.6 crore patients have been provided with medicines and around 49 lakh with diagnostic services. The tele-consultation services with qualified medical officers and specialists for cases referred from Sub Health centre level and Primary Health Care level will be introduced shortly. A pilot is being done with e-Sanjeevani application of C-DAC, Mohali in Punjab. After the due security audit, it will be rolled out in all functional AB-HWCs in phased manner.

  • How do you intend to tackle the menace of fake bills being generated by private hospitals under the scheme?

We ensure that frauds are largely prevented and even if they are attempted, they are quickly detected. We have responded promptly to them. As punishment, we have imposed a penalty and also de-panelled those hospitals. Not only this, we have taken major legal actions against them so that they are more careful in the future. We try to keep a constant check over the hospitals so that they always function and operate within the specific guidelines.

  • In recent times we have seen an increase in private hospitals. What would you say about it?

Earlier the public used to complain there being very few private hospitals but now they can see that after our consistent efforts the number of private hospitals has increased. Public hospitals are 47 per cent out of the total empanelled hospitals while private hospital figures have gone up to 53 per cent. We have issued 10 crore beneficiary cards and are happy to fulfill the expectations of the people.

Photo: Ranjan Dimri

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