Centre to Focus on Strengthening Primary Health Care System

New Delhi: Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Saturday said the Centre was focused on strengthening primary health care system in the country.

"The government is focused on strengthening the primary health-care system while at the same time providing adequate facilities to secondary and tertiary health-care in order to reduce the out of pocket burden on our citizens," he said at Nahan in Himachal Pradesh.

Nadda announced the upgradation of Nahan district hospital in Himachal Pradesh to a medical college. "It (upgradation) will add 100 MMBS seats to the institute at an approved cost of Rs 189 crores. The upgradation will also include a hospital teaching block, residential blocks and hostel blocks.

"Tertiary care facilities will thus get a boost with all these projects coming up," he said. Noting that Himanchal Pradesh has shown the progress at all fronts, Nadda said that the upgradation project of both the government medical colleges at Shimla and Tanda are being upgraded at a cost of Rs 150 crore each.

The minister said that one new AIIMS at Bilaspur has already been sanctioned for Himachal Pradesh. The Centre has already started the process to establish 10 new AIIMS in addition to six already established in the previous term, he said.

Once fully functional, more than 16,300 additional bed strength would be available in the 17 AIIMS (960 beds in each institution), he said. The Union Minister said that in addition to this, super speciality blocks are being set up in 70 medical colleges while 58 district hospitals are being upgraded to colleges.

He said that 20 cancer institutes and 50 tertiary cancer care centres are being set up while National Cancer Institute, Jhajjar (with bed capacity of 710) and second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata are also being established.