BENGALURU: A year after the Health Vision group was set up, Health Minister K Sudhakar announced that the document prepared by them will be released by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on January 28, marking six months of him taking office.
“The vision document lays down a comprehensive road map for overhaul of public healthcare at three levels -- primary, secondary and tertiary. There are about 30 senior experts from various disciplines who are working on this report, and about 750 experts who have contributed to this over the past year,” Sudhakar said.
He also launched the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the entire country, undertaken by Nimhans in association with Niti Aayog. It is being rolled out in Bengaluru, Kolar and Chikkaballapur on a pilot basis. Under this programme, doctors will be trained in screening and treating mental health patients.
“Under this initiative, even general physicians will be trained in mental healthcare. There is a need to screen newborn babies for mental health issues. Due to various socio-economic factors, and genetic and family issues, many people suffer from mental health issues.
This will have an impact on their day-to-day quality of life. Therefore, we need more doctors trained in mental healthcare,” he added. He insisted that the programme organisers focus on implementation and deliver good results so they can get more budgetary allocation in future. Commenting on the upcoming budget, he said we are in an unprecedented situation where we have to categorise the entire economy into pre-Covid and post-Covid periods.