Chandigarh, February 22- Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today said that the present government is striving to provide superlative health services to the people of the State. The Chief Minister said that the health services will be prioritized in the upcoming budget session so that every citizen can get the benefit of health services.
The Chief Minister was interacting with the officers of Health and Family Welfare Department, Medical Education Department, AYUSH Department and officers of NHM, Haryana and Ayushman Bharat Scheme here today through video conference. Haryana Health Minister, Sh. Anil Vij also joined the meeting through video conference from Ambala and gave his views.
The Chief Minister said that in today's meeting, a provision will be made to make additions in the budget after considering the suggestions received through government/private doctors and other representatives related to health. During the meeting, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the representative can give his suggestions or information by sending an e-mail or letter.
The Chief Minister said that in order to provide accessible health services to the citizens in Civil Hospitals, those suggestions will be given precedence which will revolve around strengthening the health services at Civil Hospitals. Besides this, a policy will soon be formulated to provide health services to the people in remote villages and to cover the rural area so that better health services are easily available to such people.
Earlier, the Health Minister, Sh. Anil Vij said that developing superlative health services, good education system and a robust infrastructure are the three key points which are usually the priority for any government. In this episode, a meeting has been held today to discuss the health services. He lauded the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal and said that it is for the first time that such discussions before the budget are being held and it is worth appreciating.
Sh. Vij said that in the year 2014, the budget of the Health Department was Rs. 1500 crore, which has now crossed Rs 6500 crore. He said that Cathlabs are operating in four districts of the state and the process of setting up in remaining districts is going on. Similarly, MRI, CT scan, ultrasound and ICU facilities are also being provided. Besides this, the present State Government has decided to open medical colleges in every district, under which there are medical colleges in four districts and three are under construction and permission has been given to open medical colleges in three districts.
Sh. Vij said that emphasis will be laid on research work in PGIMS, Rohtak. Apart from this, mapping regarding health services will also be done as per the need so that no person from Haryana has to commute outside the State for treatment.
NITI Aayog member, Dr. Vinod K Paul, who connected through video conference said that the health sector should be given priority and the Government of India has set a target of 8 per cent of the total budget for the State Governments in the health budget by the year 2025 so that people can get access to health related facilities.
Referring to Haryana, Dr. Paul said that currently the health budget of Haryana is 5.1 percent of the total budget, which is a very good percentage as compared to other states.
On this occasion, the Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, Sh. Randeep Guleria appreciated the work done by the Chief Minister and the Health Minister in the health sector. He elaborated that Haryana has done outstanding work in the health sector as compared to other states. Therefore, we have to move towards providing quality health services to the citizens.
In the video conferencing meeting, Dr. Shrinath Reddy from Public Health Foundation of India, Vice Chancellor, Rohtak PGIMS, Dr. Anita Saxena, Dr. Punita Hasija from IMA, Haryana, Dr. Divya Saxena, Dr. Pankaj Mutreja, Dr. Navneet Bali, Dr. Harprakash, Dr. Rajni Malik, Dr. Ramesh Sehgal, Vice Chancellor of AYUSH University, Dr. Baldev, Dr. Vishesh Kumar from WHO, Dr. RK Aneja, Dr. Ved Beniwal, Dr. Bipin Kaushal also gave their suggestions. On this occasion, Director, Department of AYUSH, Dr. Saket also gave his suggestions.
During the meeting, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Dr. Amit Agrawal, Additional Chief Secretary of Health Department, Sh. Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary of Finance, Sh. TVSN Prasad, Principal Secretary of Medical Education Department, Dr. G. Anupama, Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat Scheme, Sh. Vijay Dahiya, Mission Director of NHM, Haryana, Dr. Prabhjot Singh and other senior officers were present.