CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE DISCUSSES
CGHS & CENTRAL GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS
The Central Government will have
to play a key role in augmenting public health investment so as
to improve the delivery of health services in the states. Union
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has assisted the State Governments
of AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, UP and West Bengal
to frame State Health System Projects where by they could improve
the conditions of the district and sub-division hospitals by construction,
strengthening and renovation of building, purchase of modern equipments
and by training of manpower. These projects are funded by World
Bank total up to Rs. 3914 crore. The Ministry is also taking steps
to prepare project reports of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala
so that these states can also pursue their proposals with the
World Bank. This was stated by the Union Minister of Health and
Family Welfare, Shri Shatrughan Sinha while addressing the Consultative
Committee meeting here yesterday.
Elaborating on the agenda of the
meeting that discussed the Central Government Health Scheme and
Central Government Hospitals, the Minister informed the members
that CGHS caters to about 10 lakh Central Government officers
and staff. The Central Government hospitals specially the AIIMS,
Dr. RML hospital and Safdar Jung hospital in Delhi attend to about
50 lakh patient every year in their OPDs and perform more than
2 lakh operations.
The members said that the Government
hospitals cannot keep pace with the increasing population so there
has to be an effort by the Government to open more institutes
like the AIIMS at least in State capitals, so that the people
do not have to rush to Delhi for better treatment. They also said
that regional imbalance in the medical facilities which is largely
concentrated in urban centres have to be looked into. There was
also a suggestion by the members that mobile dispensaries should
be started that could serve better in rural areas. The research
in Ayurveda should be encouraged and given priority, the members
expressed.
The members who
attended the meeting were, Sh/Shri Virender Kumar, Bal Krishana
Chauhan, Dr. M. Jagannath, Sunder Lal Tiwari, Dr. Ram Lakhan Singh,
M.M.Agarwal, Dr. P.Selvie Das, Dr. Swami Sakashiji Maharaj, kalraj
Mishra, Datta Meghe, Moti Lal Vora.
