Maharashtra govt to launch two healthcare schemes

Mumbai: Maharashtra is planning to launch two health care schemes - Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MPJA Yojana) and Balasaheb Thackeray Accident Benefit Scheme -- shortly in the state, a government official said.

"For the benefit of a vast number of people of the state, we are launching two health care schemes - Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MPJA Yojana) and Balasaheb Thackeray Accident Benefit Scheme," Maharashtra minister for public health and family welfare, Deepak Sawant said.

Addressing the CII Healthcare Conclave 2017 organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Sawant said, "The MPJA Yojana will come with newly added processes and procedures. We are also working on an insurance scheme for the poor with orange ration cards. The scheme will cover about 2.43 crore families in the state."

Proposing adoption of digital health technologies extensively in the state, Sawant said, "We are planning to adopt digital health technologies, particularly for reaching out to patients in the remote areas. That is the approach the government is taking."

He has sought the technical support from the industry in this regard.

While stating that lack of a sufficient number of skilled manpower in the healthcare sector, including doctors, was hampering delivery of services sufficiently, he suggested telemedicine as a solution backed by appropriate technology for catering to patients in remote areas.

For expediting these projects, the minister has asked CII to form a core group of professionals and experts, forthwith.

Colin Wells, British Deputy High Commissioner, cited the first Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH), launched in Nagpur a few days ago, as a sterling example of Indo-UK joint initiatives in the healthcare segment.

The plan includes setting up of such 1,000-bed hospitals across the country with an investment of Rs 17,600 crore into the country's health care system.