Karnataka No.1 in establishing health & wellness centres

Bengaluru: Karnataka has emerged as the best state and is ranked number one in establishing health and wellness centres (HWC) under the Ayushman Bharat Program, to provide comprehensive primary healthcare in rural areas, the state's Health and Family welfare department said on Tuesday. The state leads in implementing the project for the year 2020-21, the department said in a statement. It said the union government had set a target of establishing 2,263 HWC sub-centres, and the state has upgraded 3,300 centres till March 31, which is 146 per cent more than the set target. The Centre had also given the target of upgrading 2,096 PHCs to HWCs, 2,168 have been upgraded so far which is 103 per cent more than the set target, it further said. Also against the target of upgrading 294 urban PHCs, the state has already upgraded 364 PHCs, which is is 124 per cent more than the set target, the department said. "A total of 4,653 HWCs have to be established in the state as given by the centre out of which 5,832 have been established which is 125 per cent more than the given target," it added. Noting that with an objective of providing quality healthcare for all under Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka scheme, the department said, all PHCs are being upgraded under National Health Mission, and the state has a target of upgrading 11,595 centres as HWCs. Counselling sessions for adults, public yoga camps, providing temporary and permanent family planning methods to couples, ENT care, first aid during emergency and referring to tertiary hospitals are some of the services being offered in these centres, it said. Expressing satisfaction regarding this achievement, Health Minister K Sudhakar said that Karnataka has emerged the best state in implementing health and wellness centres. "It will enable the rural population to avail quality health care in their neighbourhood. HWCs are providing good service in this regard," he was quoted as saying in the release.

Noting that the Health department is focused more on controlling Covid at this point of time, Sudhakar said, the government is also facing revenue crunch due to the economic slowdown caused by pandemic, however, this has not stopped our government from implementing developmental projects. "Even though our short to medium term goal is to tackle the pandemic, our long term goal and ultimate aim is to strengthen PHCs which are the building blocks of our public healthcare system," he added.