Minister calls for PPP to ensure Healthcare for all

Hyderabad, Sep 4 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Health Panabaka Lakshmi today stressed the need for public private sector partnership to achieve Healthcare for all.

Inaugurating the country's first ''MRI with ambient experience and 64-slice Cardiac CT Scan'' at the Apollo Hospitals here, she said the UPA Government was striving to reach out Healthcare to the one billion plus population with its initative for National Rural Health(NRHM) Mission and increased the allocation for Healthcare from a mere 0.9 per cent to 2.3 per cent of the GDP.

The UPA Government would start the premier Health Institutions on par with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in different parts of the country to ensure that Healthcare was within the reach of common people Ms Lakshmi wanted the private sector to supplement the Government's efforts to provide health for all.

Noting that incidence of heart disease was increasing at an alarming pace and more Indians dying due to coronary diseases, Apollo Hospitals Group Chairman Pratap C Reddy said the only way to tackle this problem was to screen large sections of the country's population.

The new MRI machine removes the patient's ''unfriendly'' aspects and provides an ambient experience, while giving doctors images that were more precise and more informative, said Anjan Bose, Senior Director and Business Head-Indian Subcontinent, Medical Systems, Philips Electronic India Limited.

With 16 times faster imaging, the MRI room transforms itself into a patient-friendly ambience with patient's choice of animations, synchronised soothing music and room lighting, he added.

UNI