HYDERABAD: A number of steps to strengthen medical infrastructure in Telangana were taken over the course of 2022, said Health Minister T Harish Rao. The minister unveiled the Annual Health Report 2022, which was compiled by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, at the MCR HRD Institute here on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the Telangana government allotted Rs 11,441 crore, in the State Budget, which is a per-capita allocation of Rs 3,092. A total of 4.83 crore out-patients and 16.97 lakh in-patients admissions were registered while 3.04 lakh minor and major operations and 152 crore laboratory tests were carried out in the State in 2022.
Aimed at making medical education accessible to rural areas, the State government completed admissions for eight new medical colleges and sanctioned nine new medical colleges last year, the report said.
Currently, the State has 2,815 MBBS seats in government medical colleges and 3,800 in private colleges, an increase of 124 per cent since the formation. The number of postgraduate medical seats has also increased to 2,501, both in government and private medical institutions, from 1,183 in 2014.
The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Telangana also improved to 43 from 92 while Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) came down to 21 from 93. The State government’s midwifery initiative, KCR nutrition kits and Kangaroo Mother Care units have played an important role in employing measures to improve the State’s ranking. The report noted that 6,85,226 pregnant women had registered in 2022, of which 5,40,864 had institutional deliveries. Of them, 61 per cent gave birth in government hospitals.
The report said 55 per cent of pregnant women had normal deliveries. Currently, Telangana has 38 functional Special New Born Care Units while 13 more will be set up this year. A total of 46 New Born Stabilisation Units are already functioning in the State while 10 new ones were approved for the future.
On the occasion of Universal Health Coverage Day, which falls on December 12, the State received an award for achieving the target for the operationalisation of Health Wellness Centres for the 2022 Quality Assurance Programme. The State’s Telangana Diagnostics, which runs on a ‘Hub & Spoke’ model, also recorded a high number of teleconsultations. Currently, 70 hubs and 4,766 spokes are functional in the State. More than 31 lakh telemedicine consultations were facilitated by government health facilities in 2022, the report added.
As many as 334 Basti Dawakhanas centres, each one can cater to around 1 lakh people, are functional. In 2022, outpatient footfall in Basti Dawakhanas was recorded to be 47 lakh. The government also launched a scheme to provide three meals a day to attendants of patients in 18 major government Hospitals at a nominal cost of Rs 5 per meal. The annual report stated that 8 lakh meals were provided in the last six months.
The report said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has given permission to fill 12,522 direct recruitment vacancies on a regular basis in the health department. Among that, 969 doctor posts have already been filled and notifications to fill up 1,147 assistant professor and 5,200 staff nurse posts have been issued.
Harish said a good share of the Budget will be allotted to the health sector, enabling the State to flourish with new projects and facilities. Five super-speciality hospitals, four in Hyderabad and one in Warangal, will be established in the upcoming year. The State will also see the expansion of NIMS, with the number of beds going up from 1,489 to 3,489 beds and a 200-bed unit dedicated to mothers and children.