Promote Natural Childbirth: CM YS Jagan Hold Medical Health Review Meet

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on Medical and Health sectors at the camp office here on Monday and directed the officials to provide a post-delivery financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to women under Arogya Asara for both normal and caesarean deliveries.

During the review, the Chief Minister asserted that maternal care has to be focused irrespective of whether it is a normal delivery or a caesarean, and was told to provide the same amount under Arogya Asara. He said that special attention should be paid to encouraging normal childbirth and said that physicians are responsible for raising awareness among pregnant women. 

Discussing YSR Arogyasri, he instructed the authorities to bring more medical treatments under Arogyasri after discussing with medical experts, physicians. The officials stated that so far 2446 procedures have been made available and spending almost Rs 270 crore each month for the schemes. Besides these, for running 104 and 108 services, Rs 25 crore is being spent  every month and similarly Rs 35 crore is being paid for Arogya Aasara.The officials informed that the government is spending about Rs 4000 crore towards YSR Aarogyasri and its allied activities. In regard to Ayushman Bharat, the authorities stated that Rs 223 crore was granted by the Centre last year and estimated that Rs 360 crore will be given in the current year.

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The Chief Minister emphasised on making Arogyasri more transparent by directly crediting the amount into the beneficiary's account, from there processing the payment to the hospital in auto debit without causing inconvenience to anyone. He directed the officers to take appropriate steps to ensure the smooth running of the process without any errors. Later reviewing the Covid conditions in the State, he asked the officials to stay on high alert. In this context, the authorities informed that 99.65 percent vaccination was completed among the 15-17 year age group and 97.78 percent vaccination was done for those between 12-14 year age group.

With rising cancer cases in view, where about 34,000 people succumbed in 2020 across the State, the Chief Minister ordered the authorities to focus on providing cancer detection at the village level right from PHCs, village clinics, and ward clinics. He told the officials to complete them by December and roll out the family doctor concept, which will make cancer detection easier. He also directed them to focus on training the staff on cancer screening as the government had already signed an MoU with Tata Memorial for training of medical personnel and doctors in the state and told them to involve Swims Hospital in the initiative.

The Chief Minister directed them to ensure that all 27 medical colleges, including the 16 new ones coming up, would have two Linac machines for cancer prevention. Also, he proposed to set up a Centre of Excellence for Cancer Prevention in three colleges in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Guntur.

Reviewing village‌ clinics, ward clinics, construction of new hospitals, the Chief Minister directed the authorities to complete the works within the stipulated time. Officials said that restoration work has been completed at 977 PHCs, Village Clinics and Ward Clinics and the construction of new ones is also nearing completion. In regard to 16 new medical colleges, the officials stated that they are working to start the admission process in new medical colleges in Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Eluru and Machilipatnam from 2023 and complete the remaining colleges by December.

Health Minister Vidadala Rajani, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Medical and Health Principal  Secretary MT Krishnababu, Medical and Health Principal Secretary (Covid Management and Vaccination) Muddada Ravichandra, Special Secretary for Health Department GS Naveen Kumar, Arogyasri CEO V Vinay Chand, APMSIDC VC and MD D Muralidhar Reddy, APVVP Commissioner V Vinod Kumar, Director of Medical Health (Drugs) Ravi Shankar and other senior officials were present.