Need to improve government hospitals in State to provide better healthcare to people, Chief Minister tells officials

Need to improve government hospitals in State to provide better healthcare to people, Chief Minister tells officials

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has observed that the people lost faith in government hospitals as the previous government had utterly neglected the medical and health sectors. The situation needs to be improved at the earliest, and government hospitals in Andhra Pradesh should be best in the country, he asserted.

At a review meeting on medical and health on Monday, Mr. Naidu said that the government hospitals were in a dire situation due to the lopsided policies of the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government. Hence, the people lost faith in them, he said and underscored the need for efforts to regain the people’s confidence and trust. Reintroduce the best policies, which were implemented during 2014-19, in the medical and health sector, he said, adding,  “Cleanliness in government hospitals is mandatory. Clean bedsheets should be given to the patients.” 

Previously, the government had borrowed ₹2,300 crore from the World Bank for the telemedicine project. It was planned to provide corporate-level services in the government hospitals, and telemedicine services to the people living in villages. The previous government, however, shelved it. Study the best practices in other States with regard to telemedicine, and prepare a policy. The tribals were forced rely on ‘dolis’ (a kind of palanquins) to shift the patients and pregnant women. The previous government had weakened the feeder ambulance system.  Also, it had completely neglected the Medtech zone, which supplies medical equipment at cheap rates. The turnover of it was ₹10,000 crore, he said.  

Suggesting the officials to develop an app/health card, Mr. Naidu said that all details of treatment, medicines used, equipment etc of patients admitted to private hospitals should be uploaded there. It would help in understanding the performance of the hospitals as well.

The government would establish hospitals at the constituency-level under PPP mode. The government would provide land. All government hospitals and the PPP hospitals would be brought under one umbrella. The performance of the Andhra Pradesh hospitals should be best in the country, he said.

Referring to kidney diseases, Mr. Naidu asked the officials to collect the mandal-wise details of the kidney patients. Conduct a comprehensive study of the kidney patients and reasons behind kidney diseases being reported in the State.  Also, study the water facilities in places where kidney cases were being reported in high numbers. The problem could be identified in Uddhanam as holistic research was conducted previously. Similar cases were being reported in other places. See that CT Scan was in the reach of the poor, and provide the facility in all the district hospitals, he added. 

Medical and Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav and others were present.