Make modern medical facilities affordable: Hooda

Rohtak, Apr 4 (UNI) Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today urged the surgeons to be more considerate to the needs of the poor and ensure that the benefits of modern medical sciences are within the easy reach of the common man.

The Chief Minister was addressing 27th Conference of Northern Chapter of Association of Surgeons of India and 11th Annual Conference of Association of Surgeons of Haryana at Pt BDS Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak today.

He said the PGIMS would be upgraded as a University of Health Sciences and this decision would give a big boost to the promotion of medical education and research in the state. It would also help in providing high quality health services in critical areas.

''Surgery has undergone massive transformation during the recent past. The introduction of laparoscopic and endoscopic surgeries have given a new dimension to the concept of painless operations,'' he said.

''This new technology has proved very convenient and time saving thus resulting in less complications for both surgeons as well as patients, but the only problem is its high cost,'' he added.

He, therefore, urged the surgeons to deliberate on the issue of how to make it within the easy reach of the common man.

A number of effective steps had been taken to strengthen infrastructure of not only the PGIMS, but also of the entire network of health institutes in the state and the government was adding more health facilities for the people, he maintained.

Mr Hooda said the government had decided to launch 'Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna' for the families living Below the Poverty Line in the districts of Faridabad, Panipat, Yamunanagar and Bhiwani.

Such families in remaining districts of the state would be covered during the next five years.

The Government has adopted a Public-Private Partnership model known as 'Vikalp'. It aimed at enabling the marginalised and vulnerable sections of society get an easy access to the services of specialists, especially the preventive and promotive healthcare services.

He said that this model addresses the need to harness the healthcare infrastructure provided by private healthcare providers through the partnership mechanism and use resources more effectively.

UNI PS AE KP2244