AP to step up budgetary allocation towards community health

Hyderabad, Aug 12 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today said his government was striving to improve community health by increasing the budgetary allocation from Rs 1,600 crore to Rs 4,600 crore in 2008-09.

Inaugurating an international conference on 'New Directions for Public Health Education in Low and Middle Income Countries,' Dr Reddy recalled that public health was not given due importance in the college curriculam when he was a medical student. Even in the pre-clinical level the subject was neglected.

Referring to the 'Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme,' he said this scheme was worth emulation by other states as also the Emergency Ambulance Service, which reached the patient within 20 minutes of a phone call.

The three-day conference hosted by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) with the support from the Rockfeller Foundation, was attended by over 100 delegates from 26 countries.

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