Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that in the past 14 years, health services in Chhattisgarh have undergone significant development and expansion.
Many major milestones have been achieved, he said.
Meanwhile the Health Department’s budget has increased by 10 times from nearly Rs 450 crore to nearly Rs 4500 crores, Singh said.
He said that Chhattisgarh is the first state of the country, which provides free medical treatment facility worth upto Rs 50,000 to all the families of the state under Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme.
Earlier, medical treatment worth Rs 30,000 was provisioned under this scheme, but from current month , this amount has been increased to Rs 50,000. This is a Universal Health Scheme, under which all income groups are covered, Singh said.
The Chief Minister was addressing citizens at a programme organized by a private TV channel last night. Health Minister Ajay Chandrakar was also present in the programme.
Singh said that under Chief Minister Health Fellowship Scheme, Chhattisgarh Government has selected many specialist doctors from major cities of the country, and has posted them in Government District Hospitals of remote tribal area of Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur. These doctors are working dedicatedly, away from the luxuries of metro cities.
Before formation of the State, Chhattisgarh had only one allopathic medical college. Now including AIIMS the number of allopathic colleges in state has reached 10. These medical colleges give nearly 650 MBBS doctors to state every year. Number of nursing colleges has also increased, from where state gets nearly 3500 trained nurses every year, he said.
The Chief Minister said that Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College affiliated Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital of Raipur is serving as the India’s fourth ultramodern cancer research and medical institute, where every year nearly 700 people are provided free medical treatment.
Singh informed that under Mukhyamantri Bal Hriday Suraksha Yojana, nearly 6000 children have availed free heart operations and got a new lease of life.
Singh said that before formation of the State, Chhattisgarh had no facility of heart surgery. Needy patients had to travel all the way to Delhi and Hyderabad for treatment. Poor families couldn’t even afford to go for such treatments. But with efforts of State Government, 7-8 good well-equipped hospitals are running in Raipur, Bilaspur, Korba and other major cities, where the facility of bypass operation is also available.
Under State Government’s Sanjeevani Kosh Yojana, financial aid for treatment of critical diseases is provided to poor and needy people. The health facilities in state have expanded to such extent that now people of state no more have to travel to other states for treatment, instead people of neighbouring states Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh come to Chhattisgarh for treatment, he said.
The Chief Minister also mentioned about the Satya Sai Hospita of Naya Raipur, where children suffering from heart disease are provided free medical treatment.
He said it is one such organization that believes in servitude and has no cash counter.
Singh said that under Mukhyamantri Khadyann Sahayta Yojana, poor families are provided rice at nominal cost of Rs 1/kg, grams at Rs 5/kg, and free iodized salt. This has reduced the problem of malnutrition, which has led to decline of IMR and MMR.
He said as a result of the improved facilities, percentage of institutional deliveries in Chhattisgarh has increased from 19% to 72%.
The Chief Minister mentioned about Clean India Mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Chhattisgarh has attained promising results under this mission, seeing which I believe that state will achieve ODF status by April 2018.
Till date, nearly 18,000 villages have become Open Defecation Free (ODF), he said.
Chief MInister said- that Clean India Mission is receiving tremendous response from women of the rural areas of the state. Manpur, Mohla and other rural development blocks of Rajnandgaon district have achieved ODF status before Raipur city.
He said- that this mission is about dignity and self-respect of women, mothers, daughters. Nobody would want women of their family to face the inconvenience and discomfort of defecating in open. This is the reason why women of rural areas in Chhattisgarh are volunteering for implementation of Clean India Mission.
In the programme, Chief Minister felicitated the organizations, citizens and doctors for their commendable contribution in the field of social service and medical field. The organizations felicitated at hands of the Chief Minister include Satya Sai Hospital Naya Raipur, Social Service Organization Badte Kadam (Raipur), Kopalvani (Raipur), Vande Mataram (Dhamtari).