Arogya Aasara to provide Rs 5,000 to young mothers

Vijayawada : Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday ordered a post-delivery financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to young mothers under 'Arogya Aasara' for both normal and caesarean deliveries in the State.

At a review meeting of the Medical and Health Department at his Camp Office on Monday, the Chief Minister said special attention should be given to ensure normal childbirth and physicians should develop awareness among pregnant women.

He instructed the authorities to bring more ailments under Aarogyasri after discussing with medical experts and physicians. The Chief Minister emphasised on making Aarogyasri more transparent by directly crediting the amount in to the beneficiary's account. From the beneficiary's account the payment should be processed to the hospital in auto debit mode without causing inconvenience to anyone. He directed the officers to take appropriate steps to ensure the smooth running of the process without any errors.

Later reviewing the Covid conditions in the State, he asked the officials to stay on high alert. With rising cancer cases in view, where about 34,000 people succumbed in 2020 across the State, the Chief Minister ordered the authorities to focus on providing cancer detection at the village level right from PHCs, village clinics, and ward clinics. He told the officials to complete it by December and roll out the family doctor concept, which will make cancer detection easier. He also directed them to focus on training the staff on cancer screening as the government had already signed a MoU with the Tata Memorial for training of medical personnel and doctors and told them to involve SVIMS Hospital in the initiative.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to ensure that all 27 medical colleges, including the 16 new ones coming up, would have two Linac machines for cancer prevention. Also, he proposed to set up a Centre of Excellence for Cancer Prevention in three colleges in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Guntur.

Reviewing the village clinics, ward clinics, construction of new hospitals, the Chief Minister directed the authorities to complete the works within the stipulated time. Officials said that restoration work has been completed at 977 PHCs, village clinics and ward clinics and the construction of new ones is also nearing completion.

The officials stated that so far 2,446 procedures had been made available and the department was spending almost Rs 270 crore every month for the schemes. Besides these, for operating 104 and 108 services, Rs 25 crore was being spent. Similarly, Rs 35 crore was being paid for Aarogya Aasara.

The CM was told that on the whole Rs 4,000 crore was being spent on the Aarogyasri programme and its allied activities. The Centre had granted Rs 223 crore under Ayushman Bharat the last year and would be spending Rs 360 crore this year in AP on the programme.

The authorities informed that 99.65 per cent vaccination was completed among the 15-17 year age group and 97.78 per cent vaccination was done for those between 12-14 year age group.

Health Minister Vidadala Rajani, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Medical and Health Principal Secretary MT Krishnababu, Medical and Health Principal Secretary (Covid Management and Vaccination) Muddada Ravichandra, Special Secretary for Health Department and other senior officials were present.