Punjab has witnessed a sharp downfall of 53 per cent in the rate of readmission of patients after the launch of ambitious Care Campaign Programme across the State.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Monday said it was matter of pride for Punjab for being the first state in the country which has successfully launched the Care Campaign Programme in all medical and surgical care units in district hospitals across the State for medical and surgical in-patient care.
“Through this programme, relatives of medical and surgical patients would be trained on how to care for their loved ones while still in hospitals, so that patients have smoother transitions and better outcomes at home. This would result in better practice of healthy behaviours such as healthy diet, exercise, hygiene and is aimed at decreasing post-discharge complications,” said Sidhu.
Releasing the data of readmission of the patients who were covered under Care Campaign Programme, Sidhu said that as per the available statistics, the rate of readmission is down by 53 percent whereas 11 percent decrease has been registered in the health risk problems during treatment.
Similarly, the usage of health services has increased by 29 percent, while on the other hand, 77 percent more information and instructions are being given to patients and their family members by the hospital staff, he added.
The Minister said that relationship between the health workers and patients has become more cordial through the Care Campaign Programme, under which more than 65,000 families have been imparted training till now.
He said that due to its success, this simple yet powerful program is being expanded to other areas of patient care. “We have decided to expand the program across all medical and surgical care units in district hospitals across the State,” he added. The flagship program was launched in July 2017, in the area of Maternal Child Health (MCH) in six districts of the State. After a successful pilot, the MCH program was expanded in September 27, 2018 across all the districts of the state.