New Delhi [India], September 20 (ANI): Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda, highlighting the key achievements of the Union Health Ministry in the first 100 days of the government on Friday, said that around Rs 15 lakh crores of investment have been made in the last 100 days with speed and scale across different ministries.
He noted that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched several key initiatives aimed at enhancing healthcare delivery and access in India.
Nadda said that the recent announcement of the expansion of the Ayushman Bharat PMJAY scheme to include all senior citizens, irrespective of income group, aged 70 years and above, will potentially benefit around 6 crore individuals across 4.5 crore families. Highlighting that Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest publicly funded health coverage programme, Nadda informed that the expanded scheme will be implemented from October this year.
Another significant advancement is the U-WIN Portal, which has been developed for full digitisation of vaccination services for complete vaccination records of pregnant women and children from birth to 17 years under the Universal Immunisation Programme. The citizen-centric services of the digital platform include ‘Anytime Access’ and ‘Anywhere’ vaccination services, self-registration by citizens using the U-WIN web-portal or the U-WIN citizen mobile application, automated SMS alerts, a universal QR-based eVaccination Certificate, and the utility to create their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID for themselves and a Child ABHA ID for their children. The portal is in 11 regional languages, including Hindi.
Stating that “the U-WIN portal has been developed for full digitisation of vaccination services for complete vaccination records of pregnant women and children from birth to 17 years under the Universal Immunisation Programme,” he informed that the portal is already operational on pilot basis. As on 16th September 2024, 6.46 crore beneficiaries have been registered, 1.04 crore vaccination sessions have been held and 23.06 crore administered vaccine doses have been recorded on the portal.
A shorter and more efficacious treatment regimen is now available for use under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP), which would help in reducing the treatment duration from 9-12 months to 6 months. It has been validated along with Health Technology Assessment (HTA) by ICMR.
Nadda informed that the Union Health Ministry, in consultation with the State/UT governments is preparing a detailed rollout plan for logistics and training of health professionals for the introduction of this new regimen early next year. He also highlighted the expected reduction in duration of the treatment regimen in approximately 75,000 DRTB cases across the country.
In order to ensure country wide coverage for TB and Drug Resistance diagnosis by ‘state of the art’ molecular methods, a new indigenous diagnostic system (Patho detect) has been validated by ICMR, along with field feasibility. Nadda stated that it would lead to reduction in turn-around times for test results, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality of TB patients.
BHISHM Cubes are portable and rapidly deployable modular medical facility intended to provide emergency lifesaving clinical care in event of disaster/public health emergencies. Union Health Minister stated that BHISM cubes have the capacity to handle about 200 cases of diverse nature in emergency situations such as trauma, bleeding, burns, fractures, etc.
In the 1st Phase, BHISHM Cubes will be placed in 25 AIIMS and Institutes of National Importance (INIs) for rapid deployment in the respective region in case of disaster / health emergencies. States may also deploy at strategic locations subsequently. India has gifted four BHISHM Cubes to Ukraine during the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s visit to the country recently.
Drones service aid in rapid, cost-effective and safe delivery of medical supplies and samples in hard-to-reach and tough terrains. Fifteen (15) AIIMS/INIs/NE institutions have been identified for Drone Services. Drone trials and trainings have been completed in 12 institutes. Nadda said that drones provide safe, accurate, reliable pickup & delivery of medicines, vaccines, blood, diagnostic specimens & other life-saving items to difficult-to-reach facilities.
The Union Health Minister said that the increase in medical colleges and MBBS and PG seats would lead to increase in the availability of doctors in the healthcare system.
There is an increase of 8.07 per cent in medical colleges from 706 in 2023-24 to 766 in 2024-25. There has been a 98 per cent increase in medical colleges from 387 in 2013-14 to 766 in 2024-25. During the same period, 379 new medical colleges have been established and, presently there are 766 (Govt: 423, Pvt: 343) medical colleges in the Country.
There is an increase of 6.30 per cent in MBBS seats from 1,08,940 in 2023-24 to 1,15,812 in 2024-25. MBBS Seats increased by 64,464 (i.e., 125 per cent) from 2013-14 (51,348 seats) to 2024-25 (11,5812 seats). (ANI)
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