Posts filed under ‘Health care and Medicine’
Govt plans a health insurance scheme that will cover for all Indians
Following is from The http://www.hindustantimes.com:
A health insurance scheme that will cover every Indian is on the cards. A committee of experts appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and headed by K Srinath Reddy, chief of the Public Health Foundation of India, is working on a public-funded scheme, likely to be introduced in the 12th Five Year Plan, starting in 2012-13.
“We are looking at a scheme where people will pay premium depending on their income,” said Planning Commission member secretary Sudha Pillai.
For instance, the government may pay the entire premium for those below the poverty line. For the better off, the government’s contribution will diminish the higher the individual’s income.
This scheme is likely to cover not only hospitalisation expenses, but also treatment undergone at listed hospitals. Most private health insurance schemes cover only hospitalisation. It will also provide cover for conditions private schemes frequently do not — like heart ailments and pregnancy.
The scheme also intends the Centre to pay a higher premium for women — across all sections.
There is already a health insurance scheme under the Rashtriya Swasth Bima Yojana for BPL families. Close to half of 6 crore BPL families are covered under this scheme. In the next step, all those enrolled in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be covered, followed by women enrolled in over 10 lakh angwanwadi centers around the country.
According to the National Sample Survey Office, an Indian spends 80 % of his health expenses on buying medicine. The high cost of treatment makes health services unaffordable to many.
Presently, over 90 % Indians are not covered by any public or private health insurance.
Orissa govt. asks Centre to set up a medical college in Koraput district
Following is a report by PTI published in http://in.news.yahoo.com:
New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) Orissa today asked the Centre to consider the recommendation of the Central University in the state”s Koraput district for setting up a medical college in the region. “The HRD Ministry should favourably consider the recommendation of the Executive Committee of Central University, Koraput, for setting up a medical college,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here after a meeting with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
The Ministry, however, turned down the proposal citing resource constraint, sources said. Patnaik said he also requested Sibal to sanction and release 1/3rd of their share towards capital cost for enabling the state to establish model degree colleges in 18 low gross enrolment ratio districts.
According to the sources, Sibal told Patnaik that for strengthening vocational education, his Ministry was in the process of seeking approval of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC). Sibal said a meeting of the state Education Ministers has been scheduled in December this year to discuss vocational training.
Sibal assured Patnaik that the proposal of the state for setting up new vocational colleges and strengthening of the existing ones would be considered favourably during next academic year. For availing central assistance towards 1/3rd share for capital cost for setting up degree colleges in 18 Low gross enrolment ratio districts, Sibal said Orissa should sign the required MoU at the earliest for getting the required central share.
275 nursing colleges to be set up in hilly states of India
New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) Government will set up 275 nursing colleges to churn out 22,000 nurses every year in the hilly states as part of its drive to address the shortfall in human resources in the health sector.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said improving human resources in the health sector was his real aim over the next five years.
Along with the increase in the number of Post-Graduate medical seats, the government is planning a major boost for nursing education and para-medical staff by setting up 275 colleges in hilly and difficult states.
“These colleges will churn out 22,000 additional nurses every year,” Azad said at a function here.
The health minister said the government was also bringing out a mechanism through which the Centre would directly monitor the immunisation campaign being carried out by the state governments.
He said there was also a need to reign in the population growth.
Masters programme for healthcare professionals launched in the Institute of Clinical Research of India (ICRI)
Following is a report by IANS taken from http://www.thaindian.com:
New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) The Institute of Clinical Research of India (ICRI) Tuesday said it has launched a masters degree programme in health administration to build “appropriate skilled teams” for the industry which lacks trained healthcare professionals.The institute has started the two-year course in collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the US.
“The Indian healthcare system lacks trained healthcare professionals and skilled teams of hospital administrators are the need of the hour. The masters programme will help to build an appropriate skilled team of hospital administrators,” ICRI chairman Shiv Ram Dugal said.
Graduates or final year graduation students in disciplines of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, biotechnology, commerce, economics and engineering can opt for the course.
India to add 10,000 more medical post graduate seats:Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
Following is a report by IANS found in http://www.indiatalkies.com:
New Delhi, March 17 – India will soon add 10,000 more post graduate seats in medical education within two years, and 4,000 of them will be available from the coming academic session, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Wednesday.
‘Many graduates of medical education are going abroad for studies. I am assuring 10,000 more PG seats within two years,’ Azad said at the 94th convocation of the Lady Hardinge Medical College.
These seats will be available in central and state medical colleges, he added.
137 nursing schools to come up in 18 states of India
Following is a report by IANS published in http://www.thaindian.com:
New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) The Cabinet Thursday approved setting up of 137 General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) Schools in at least 18 states to boost human resource in the health sector. The total cost will be Rs.1,370 crore.
“The schools will be opened in these states at a total cost of Rs.1,370 crore with a cost sharing pattern of 85:15 between the central government and states. The expenditure on the part of the central government would be Rs.1,164.50 crore and the states are to contribute Rs.205.50 crore,” the cabinet said in a statement.
These schools will upgrade and strengthen human resource for health in high focus states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and all Northeastern states.
“This is expected to increase the availability of trained nursing manpower and improve the quality of nursing education in the backward and special category states of the country. This would also facilitate improvement in the quality of nursing services in the hospitals,” the cabinet added.
Tamil Nadu gets first medical technology park of India
Spread over 25 acres and designed to house 10 international medical technology manufacturers, the Trivitron Medical Technologies Park aims to bring cutting edge medical technology to medical professionals at affordable costs.
“This is a captive park for medical devices manufacturers who sign up a joint venture agreement with us. In all, around 10 medical devices manufacturers will house their production facilities involving an outlay of around Rs.250 crore,” Trivitron Group founder and managing director G.S.K.Velu told the sources here recently after the inauguration.
He said the Trivitron group has inked five medical devices manufacturing joint ventures till date and the park’s first occupant Aloka Trivitron Medical Technologies is one such venture to manufacture ultrasound machines, high end colour dopplers and advanced imaging systems.
The other joint ventures – with Brandon Medical, UK, ET Cardioline, Italy, Johnson Medical, Sweden and Biosystems, Spain – are expected to start their production from the park soon.
“Our investment in the joint ventures will be around Rs.150 crore and the stake holding in companies will be a mix of majority and minority,” Velu added.
While Trivitron holds 49 percent stake in Aloka Trivitron Medical, Velu said in the remaining four ventures, the holding will be majority stake.
A range of products will be manufactured at the park. These include ultrasound systems, colour dopplers, X -ray machines, C-arms, in-vitro diagnostic reagents and instruments, cardiology diagnostic instruments, critical care instruments, modular operating theatres, operating theatre lights and tables and implantable medical devices.
Inaugurating the park, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M.K.Stalin said, “The medical devices park is yet another feather in the cap of the state’s healthcare system. The state is the leader in healthcare delivery in the country.” IANS
Indian Govt.’s new scheme to address the shortage of health workers for mental health disorders
Following is a report by IANS published in http://www.indiaedunews.net:
The central government today announced a health scheme to address the problem of acute shortage of doctors and health workers for mental health disorders, saying India will produce 1,756 such practitioners, including 520 doctors, every year.
“We know there is an acute shortage of human resource and we are putting in place a mental health scheme. The outcome of this scheme is 1,756 mental health professionals annually, which includes 104 psychiatrists and 416 clinical psychologists,” Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
He said the above list also has 416 psychiatric social workers and 820 psychiatric nurses for handling mental disorder patients.
Azad said nearly seven percent of Indians face common mental health problems but only two percent face acute problem needing proper medical treatment.
He said under the mental health scheme worth Rs.1,000 crore, 11 existing mental health hospitals are being upgraded and strengthened to produce qualified manpower.
“Rs.30 crore per centre will be given for academic block, library, hostel, laboratories, supportive departments and lecture theaters,” the minister said.
An additional 44 post-graduate seats in psychiatry, 176 M.Phil seats in clinical psychology and psychiatric social work and 220 seats in diploma in psychiatric nursing will be available every year, he added.
Azad also said that assistance would be provided for setting up and strengthening of 30 units of psychiatry, 30 departments of clinical psychology, 30 departments of psychosocial worker and 30 departments of psychiatric nursing. The central government will provide Rs.5.1 million to Rs.10 million per PG department for the purpose.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 