MoS Health apprises Parliament on Steps taken to strengthen Rural Healthcare

Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has outlined significant steps to improve the healthcare infrastructure at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country. These plans include technical and financial support to states and Union Territories (UTs), upgrading healthcare facilities, and enhancing services to improve access to quality care in rural areas.

As part of the ongoing effort to enhance healthcare services, the government has embarked on an ambitious project to establish 1,50,000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) by December 2022.

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Shri Prataprao Jadhav was responding to questions posed by Ms Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde, Member of Parliament, who wanted to know the details of the healthcare development projects with regard to Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country.

He inquired whether the Government has any plan to upgrade the services available at PHCs and equipped them with ECG machines; and

Furthermore, he seeks to know, if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve access to quality healthcare services in rural regions across the country.

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In response to these questions, MoS Health informed that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides technical and financial support to the States/UTs to strengthen the public healthcare system, based on the proposals received in the form of Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) under the National Health Mission. The government of India provides approval for the proposal in the form of a Record of Proceedings (RoPs) as per norms & available resources.

As per established norms, a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in rural areas is to be established for a population of 20,000 (in hilly and tribal areas) and 30,000 (in plains).

In 2018, the Government of India announced 1,50,000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) to be established by December 2022. The existing Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres in both rural and urban areas are transformed into Ayushman Arogya Mandir (AAM) to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care that includes preventive, promotive, curative, palliative, and rehabilitative services that are universal, free, and close to the community.

MoS Health stated that Health Dynamics of India (HDI)(Infrastructure & Human Resources),2022-23 is an annual publication, based on Health care administrative data reported by States/UTs. Details of health facilities functioning in rural & urban areas may be seen at the link of HDI 2022-23.

Further, to improve access to quality healthcare services in remote and rural areas support for Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) is provided to States/UTs, based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs), subject to availability of resources. Deployment of MMUs is based on a normal population norm with 1 MMU per 10 lakhs population. However, further relaxation of norms is available on a case-to-case basis and where patients served through existing MMUs exceed 60 patients per day per MMU in plain areas and 30 patients per day per MMU in hilly areas.

Also, the  Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has developed eSanjeevani, a telemedicine application, which provides doctor-to-doctor (HWC module) and patient-to-doctor consultation services (OPD module). This application works on a hub and spoke model. At the hub level, a specialist doctor provides services to Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) in rural areas, added the Minister.