VIJAYAWADA: In a major effort to improve healthcare in rural and tribal areas, Health Minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav on Tuesday inaugurated 267 newly built Village Health Clinics (Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) across 24 districts in Andhra Pradesh.
The main event was held at Janardhanapuram village in Krishna district’s Gudivada division, where he launched a new clinic. Almost, 266 other facilities across 87 Assembly constituencies built at a total cost of around Rs 105 crore were launched virtually.
The minister said the government’s primary goal is to take medical services directly to villages, saving rural families from travelling long distances to towns and cities just for basic tests and treatment.
He announced that the government aims to complete over 4,400 remaining clinics within the next six months, with a total outlay of Rs 1,128.02 crore, and that Panchayat Raj department will handle execution.
Of these, around 2,700 buildings are expected to be ready by the end of this year, and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be invited to inaugurate them.
He noted that project delays in the past led to cost overruns, pushing the construction cost per clinic from Rs 17.50 lakh to nearly Rs 36 lakh under the National Health Mission. The PM-ABHIM scheme is developing another 700 facilities at a cost of Rs 55 lakh each.
Each Ayushman Arogya Mandir is set up for every 5,000 residents and equipped to offer 14 diagnostic tests, 105 essential medicines, and 71 types of medical equipment.
On January 1, the department will roll out the ‘Sanjeevani’ digital system, providing every citizen a Unique Health ID to store test results, and prescriptions in one place, supported by 2,500 coordinators.
The government is also deploying 930 Mobile Health Units for remote villages, each fitted with an auto-analyser worth Rs 10 lakh to run 41 types of tests free of cost.
