BS Yediyurappa government unveils ambitious plan to improve public health care facilities

Bengaluru: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Thursday announced that Primary Health centres (PHC) in the State will be upgraded and the allocation to health department will be enhanced in the budget for this purpose.

He was speaking at a meeting he convened at his office cum home, Krishna, to discuss upgradation of PHCs.

"Infrastructure of all 2,359 PHCs in the State will be modernized and the bed capacity will be increased to 12 or 20. Modern equipment, staff strength as well as services will also be increased," the Chief Minister announced. Since it is compulsory for MBBS graduates to undergo one-year training in rural government hospitals after completion of the course, they will be appointed to PHCs to overcome the shortage of staff," the CM added.

Yediyurappa said one ambulance will be made available 24x7 at every PHC. The PHCs will be so modernised that people will not have any need for running to taluk or district headquarters for treatment.

Briefing reporters, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar said that each PHC caters to 30,000 people. Each PHC has six beds at present, which his department wishes to enhance to somewhere between 12 to 20. The number of doctors at each PHC will also be increased from one to three-four. The minister said the health department has decided to build residential-cum-medical complexes over two acres of land to address the main concern of doctors who are reluctant to serve in rural areas due to lack of housing facilities. It will house an administrative building, PHC, houses for doctors, nurses, paramedics and other staff.

"Each primary health centre would cost about Rs 6 to 8 crore. The two-acre complex will comprise an administrative block spread over 20,000 sq ft and PHC, which has about 12 beds including six for women," Sudhakar told reporters. There will be a mother-and-child section as well in each PHC, which will be 30 per cent of the total area of the hospital. It will also have a laboratory where various tests can be performed.

"The facilities here will be such that this will not be just a primary health centre. This should be a predictive health centre also. If someone is likely to get a heart attack in the next five to 10 years, these PHCs should be able to predict that," Sudhakar said. The minister also said the state government will manage these PHCs from the funds received under the National Health Mission. As per the plan, the sub-health centre below the PHCs to the tertiary health centres or the super specialty hospital will be connected through the internet. Similarly, the community health centre for a population of 80,000 people will also be upgraded.

Taluk hospitals, that will cater to 1.5 lakh to two lakh population, will also have mother and child wing, Sudhakar said. According to him, 18 district hospitals are attached to medical colleges coming under the medical education department, and 15 others come under the health department. All these hospitals will be converted into medical college hospitals in the coming days, the health minister told reporters. The district hospitals presently have a 200-bed facility, which will be upgraded to 500 to 700 beds. Further, all of them will have trauma centres, cardiology and oncology departments. "We want that these specialised treatments should not be restricted only to Bengaluru or Hubballi but all the districts so that the tertiary treatments are available in their respective districts," the minister said. Dr Javed Akthar, ACS, Health and Family Welfare Department explained the details of model PHC to the CM through a power point presentation.

"951 PHCs in the State are presently working 24/7 and there is a need to upgrade the rest of the PHCs to work 24/7," he stated.