Centre working to make medicare accessible to poor in TS: Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Sunday said that the BJP government at the Centre led by Narendra Modi has been working to make medical services accessible to the people of Telangana.

Listing out the schemes in which the Centre had provided funds, Kishan Reddy said that under the National Health Mission, funds to the tune of Rs 5,550 crore were released to Telangana during the last eight and a half years since 2014-15 and added that according to March, 2021 calculations, Telangana has 227 primary health centres in towns, 10 community health centres, 636 primary health centres in villages and 85 community health centres providing essential medical services to the people.

As of March,2022, there are 11,367 health workers (doctors, nurses, etc) working in Telangana under the National Health Mission. As many as 624 ambulances were providing emergency services to the public, 32,854 ASHA workers were providing various services. A total of 1,075 Hospital Management Committees have been formed in Telangana, 314 primary health centres in rural areas providing 24X7 medical eservices, 156 FRUs (First Referral Units) serving round-the-clock for various operations, 10,426 Rural Health Hygiene and Nutrition Committees have been +constituted.

The Union Minister said that so far 175 Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jana Aushadhi Paryojana Kendras across Telangana state were providing generic medicines to people at lowest prices. About 1,616 types of medicines and 250 surgical devices are available to the people at 50 to 80 per cent lower prices in these centres. During the last three years, to implement the TB eradication programme, the Centre spent Rs 146 crore, for eradication of fluorosis in 1,041 fluorosis affected villages of the state Rs 800 crores were provided to provide safe drinking water to the people of the respective villages.

The Minister said that around Rs 300 crores funds were released under the Emergency Covid Response Package Phase-II during Corona. With the encouragement given by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the manufacturing of vaccines, the vaccine companies in Hyderabad played a vital role in the manufacturing. More than Rs 7.7 crore doses of Covid vaccine worth over Rs 1,800 crore have been distributed free of cost. In May, 2021, Rs 150 crore funds were released after the Telangana state joined the Ayushman Bharat programme. As many as 5.86 lakh people have availed free medical services within the shortest period of joining the programme, 737 hospitals in Telangana have been made a part of it.