The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) would be launched on January 1 in Bangalore to provide comprehensive primary healthcare facilities to Bangaloreans free of cost, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced here on Friday.
The healthcare facilities will be provided to people of all wards of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) under NUHM.
The Centre is likely to provide Rs 150 crore grant under NUHM to set up comprehensive primary health centres, which are equivalent to present primary health centres (PHCs). They would cater to all diseases of urban population, he said after chairing a meeting convened to review the progress of several centrally sponsored health projects in the state.
Well-equipped hospitals with 30-100 bed capacity would be established in all the 28 Assembly constituencies in the city and major hospitals of 100 beds and above would be established in all the eight BBMP zones in the city.
In the next one or two years, NUHM would be gradually extended to other major cities of the State.
Azad appealed to the media to create awareness among the people about the medical services being provided free of cost.
He also announced a gift for Karnataka in the new year in the form of setting up two cancer hospitals in Gulbarga and Mandya at a cost of Rs 20 crore each. Two super speciality hospitals would be established in Hubli and Bellary at a cost of Rs 50 crore each, he added.
The Union government has decided to reconsider its stand about the proposal to ban consumption of areca nut. Divergent views are being expressed on the ban proposal. Some research findings have found that areca is harmful for health, but it is being opposed keeping in mind the interest of areca growers, Azad said. The Centre is examining both the arguments. The issue has been kept aside for now, he said.