VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to evolve an action plan to establish multispeciality hospitals with a bed strength of 100 to 300 in every Assembly constituency of the State.
Holding a review meeting on the Health Department at the State Secretariat on Friday, he said out of the total 175 constituencies, 70 have already got the multispeciality hospitals with a bed strength of over 100. Hence, steps should be initiated to set up multispeciality hospitals in the remaining 105 constituencies, the Chief Minister said.
Proposing the establishment of the hospitals under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, Naidu suggested that a policy be formulated to offer subsidies, similar to those provided to industries, to organisations willing to build and manage these hospitals.
Underlining the need for expansion of healthcare services in the State, Naidu proposed the establishment of a Mega Global MediCity in Amaravati, envisioned as an international-standard facility to attract patients from across the globe.
Multispeciality hosps to come up in every segment
Mentioning that education and healthcare are his priorities, Naidu urged the officials to collaborate with the Gates Foundation to deliver top-tier medical services, and ensure a multispeciality hospital in every Assembly segment. To address the shortage of doctors in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs), he proposed virtual services to ensure basic care is available to patients.
He stressed the importance of preventive healthcare, encouraging awareness campaigns to promote healthier lifestyles and dietary habits to combat hypertension, diabetes and other ailments. The progress of cancer screening initiative in the State was also reviewed at the meeting.
Naidu announced plans to strengthen 25 existing drug de-addiction centres with an outlay of Rs 32.5 crore and establish 13 new centres across the State. He directed the officials to fill vacant posts in PHCs in Agency areas, set up eight new dialysis centres in Vizianagaram, increase dialysis units in NTR and Bapatla districts, and upgrade CHCs in Kovvur and Nidadavolu.
Naidu enquired about the progress of the Digital Nerve Centre (DiNC), an innovative healthcare programme by Tata Consultancy Services, being implemented in his constituency Kuppam.
The officials informed him that Andhra Pradesh leads the country with 4.47 crore (88%) of its population issued Ayushman Bharat cards. Under the PM-JANMAN (Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan), special TB screening was conducted for 82,693 tribals, identifying 5,072 positive cases. Screening of 10,11,461 tribal people led to detection of 1,977 sickle cell anaemia cases. The State has achieved 95.60% registration rate for births and deaths, and Aadhaar cards have been issued for 13,26,621 infants, they added.