Naidu pitches for healthy AP

All the 25 medical institutes will be provided with Wifi for virtual lessons from world-renowned experts from the field. A 15-bedded hospital with an investment of Rs120 crore is being constructed in Visakhapatnam.

Hyderabad: With an aim to make Andhra Pradesh a world class medical hub, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday met medical and health experts who submitted a draft health policy to the government.

The Chief Minister said the government would encourage establishment of super-specialty hospitals either through private partnerships or via trust. Stating that only medicines and health centre don't constitute a hospital, the Chief Minister said doctors and medical experts need to focus on primary healthcare too.

Naidu said additional medical training centres and health institutes should be set up to increase the number of nurses and paramedics. He also proposed the idea of working with corporate who have come forward to set up chain hospitals. “That apart, there is a need to focus on medical education from school-level,” he added. Stating that every citizen was entitled to best healthcare services, the Chief Minister appealed to corporate doctors to cooperate with experts and the government in making healthcare accessible and affordable, especially to the poor. He has asked experts from the field to make an action plan on improving infrastructure, health indicators like IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) and IMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) and healthcare services in the State and submit it to the government at the earliest.

According to the Chief Minister, all the 25 medical institutes would be provided with Wifi for virtual lessons from world-renowned experts from the field. During the discussion, cancer specialist Dr Jagannath pointed out that a State with over 5 crore people has no cancer hospital. He added that one in three districts could have one cancer Hospital. He said Andhra Pradesh could work on the “hub-and-spoke model” of service delivery and informed the Chief Minister that a 15-bedded hospital with an investment of Rs 120 crore was being constructed in Visakhapatnam.

Meanwhile, gastroenterologist Dr Nageshwar Reddy gave a presentation on the importance of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare. Cardiologist Dr Somaraju said quality of services could be enhanced by hiring more nurses. This would not only give an employment boost but also enable the government to take quality services to remote areas, eventually leading to women empowerment. Former health secretary K Sujatha Rao informed the Chief Minister that California spends 30-40 per cent of its budget on healthcare. She pointed out that our country and the State has dismally low allocation for healthcare and that this has to be increased.

Dr G N Rao of LV Prasad Eye Institute said that our State spends Rs 900 on an individual for healthcare and that this has to be utilised properly. Further, Dr Santha Rao highlighted the importance of internships which could better healthcare services.

Dr Srinath Reddy of Public Health Foundation of India said more PG institutes should be set up in the State to attract students from across the country.