My Intent Is To Provide Preventive, Promotive And Curative Care

Anil Vij, Health Minister, Haryana, who is not known to mince his words, in a candid interview with Prathiba Raju, speaks on the healthcare status of the state explaining how he focusses to provide preventive, promotive and curative care to the state

- Prathiba Raju

What are the key policy decisions taken so far to enhance the public health?

My prime focus is to provide preventive, promotive and curative care to the people of Haryana via upgraded public health system. I have always emphasised that the work culture of the government hospitals, should be patient friendly. This move has shown us significant changes and it has helped us to increase our OPD to 12 percent and IPD to 20 percent, in the last one year.

Hospital infrastructure has also been our focus. We are trying to upgrade at least 57 government hospitals and also trying to get NABH accreditation for hospitals. 20 hospitals are already accredited in areas like Panchkula, Faridabad. We want the grass-root level population to access high quality diagnostic and imaging facilities. Thus, in each District Hospital (DH), we are trying to provide MRI and CT scan services, with 10 DHs already implementing it, while rest of the DHs will be covered. Apart from it, the dialysis centres are also set up in all the 22 DHs, out of which six DH hospitals already have the dialysis centres, the rest will come up in a phased manner.

We are coming up with four CATH labs in Ambala, Panchkula, Faridabad and Gurgaon for the benefit of heart patients. These labs will carry out cardiac stent operation which would cost ₹46,000. Already, Ambala districts’ CATH lab have started treating patients and soon the facility will be provided to other three district and later throughout the state.