If things go in line with what Health Department of the State has been working on since last few months, Jharkhand is going to be the only second State in country to offer ‘free health services’ to all the minors in the government-run hospitals.
Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi said today that it was planning to introduce free health services for all the minors in the State across income groups. He said that the proposal was in advance stages and it could be introduced for discussions in any of the cabinet meetings in near future.
Though the Minister didn’t divulge much about the term ‘free’ and what kind of health services would be provided for free, he said that the Health Department was in process of evaluating things in an elaborative way to come up with a solid plan. He also said that betterment of health services was among one of the top priorities of the government.
“We are planning to introduce free health services to our minors in the State soon. This service will have for across the income groups and beyond caste and other differentiators. We will introduce it for discussion in the cabinet meeting after we evaluate everything related to it,” said Chandravanshi.
“I have seen this service been in effect in Madhya Pradesh, which is the only State so far to provide free health check ups and a couple of other facilities. Once launched in Jharkhand, it will change the perception of how healthcare services are being provided by the State,” said Chandravanshi.
He added that the process for providing free dialyses services to the poor has already started in as many as eight districts and will be completed soon. “Once Sadar Hospital is inaugurated in June this year, we will come up with a number of plans for the sector,” added the Minister.