VIJAYAWADA: In a bid to provide quality healthcare to people of all sectors, the budget for the health sector should be increased to 4 per cent from 1.4 per cent, said Dr PV Ramesh, a retired IAS officer, and former Health Secretary of the State, at the round table meeting organised by NGO Prajarogya Vedika. Dr P V Ramesh urged the Andhra Pradesh government to bring the Right to Health Act so that everyone in the State can get easy access to quality healthcare schemes and programmes.
Dr Ramesh claimed the poor and underprivileged sector is still devoid of proper medical care in our country. “Health schemes and insurances like Aarogyasri, ESI and others are not enough. The government should take measures to strengthen the healthcare system. Special attention should be paid to the training of teaching doctors and improving the standards of medical education by setting up a separate department of Andhra Pradesh State Health Authority for the education of doctors, training of nurses and paramedical courses,” he observed.
Dr Ramesh emphasised that primary health centres and sub-centres should be looked at in such a way as to increase their work, and only when that happens, the burden on tertiary hospitals will be reduced and better treatment will be possible. Dr MV Ramanaiah, state president of Prajarogya Vedika, demanded that a ‘right to health’ law should be introduced and every political party should come forward with this law as a manifesto.