Bengaluru: Govt announces new projects for health sector

Bengaluru: A new multi-speciality hospital will be started in the North Bengaluru area to provide modern and specialist medical services to the poor and migrant workers in the state capital.

The CM, B S Yediyurappa announced that The Institute of Gastroenterology Sciences and Organ Transplant situated in the premises of Victoria Hospital will be equipped with 120 beds and necessary equipment at a cost of Rs. 28 crore and will be operationalised in the current year. This is the first institute for organ transplantation in the country.

In order to reduce the pressure on Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology at Bengaluru, a sub-centre of 50 bed capacity would be started in K.C. General Hospital at an expenditure of Rs.20 crore.

Yediyurappa announced that about 1.91 crore people have been subjected to RT PCR tests to detect the corona infection by the end of February.

"Free treatment has been provided to 9.53 lakh patients. 90 lakh food packets have been distributed to the labourers of the construction sector. Assistance has been provided to 16.45 lakh construction labourers, 11,770 artisans and 51 lakh farmers," he added.

Yediyurappa remarked that the control of corona and vaccination drive conducted by Karnataka has drawn attention at the national level. The Prime Minister has also complimented the State. He said that though the situation has improved, the casual approach cannot be adopted since the reports of new infections and deaths are coming regularly.

The CM stated that there was a decline in the revenue mobilisation during the 10 months of corona period due to three months of lockdown.

"After the opening of lockdown, though the situation is returning to normalcy with the signs of revival of economic and social activities, the revenue collections may not reach the estimation made in the budget.

Though there has been growth in the revenue mobilisation in the past few months, due to the shortages experienced throughout the financial year, we have to accept that there is an imbalance in annual income and expenditure," he said.

The CM also announced that in order to enable the residents of Bengaluru to obtain primary treatment easily, Janarogya Centres would be established by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), through the Health Department, in 57 wards where there are no City Primary Health Centres, at a cost of Rs.10 crore and outpatient and diagnostic services would be provided.

Welcoming the budget, Dr Suri Raju V Medical Director and Chief Urologist Regal Multi-Speciality Hospital said that he welcomes the government's decision to increase budget for healthcare, although more was expected for the upgradation of PHC and basic facility for Doctors in phc and paramedical staff.

"We could also have focused on attracting more qualified doctors to PHC through more investment into the PHC at the ground level. Jayadeva sub center hospital at Davangere is a welcome move as now people don't have to come to Mysore or Bengaluru for basic cardiac health facilities.

One thing that stands out is focus on Preventive health care,early cancer detection which is a welcome move. After Covid 19 ,everyone realized the importance of good health care,the government is moving towards this and the increase of budget is moving in that direction. We welcome good ICU care, good cardiac, kidney care as well," he said.

Aishwarya Vasudevan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Neuberg Diagnostics stated that the budget rightly strikes a reasonable balance in addressing the key pillars of Health & Well-being.

"The array of measures announced are in line with our expectations. The substantial allocation in new-born screening and genomics will help detect hereditary metabolic diseases, controlling child mortality rate.

In addition to these, setting up new institutes, health centres and mobile labs is also a welcoming move to strive for good standards of healthcare services," she added.