Vice Prez asks private hospitals to reach out to rural areas too

Naidu urged the private sector to expand to rural areas to bridge the divide with the urban parts, vis-a-vis the availability of quality health care.

India has made significant progress since Independence in the health indicators with successive governments according high priority to health and the well-being of the people, he said at the inauguration of the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre.

“While we have successfully eliminated some infectious diseases and improved the reach of health care delivery, there still is a glaring disparity in the provision of the services between urban and rural areas,” he said.

While the private sector was complementing the governments efforts in providing health care facilities, its focus was “mostly confined to urban areas.” “This has to change and the urban-rural divide in this crucial sector has to be eliminated. The private sector needs to expand facilities to the rural areas, where the majority of India’s population lives,” he said.

He said the Public-Private-Partnership could be the model to bridge the gap by providing technically advanced primary and secondary health care centres. Naidu also called for making advanced treatment accessible and affordable to all sections of society.

He referred to the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme stating that it also seeks to establish 1,50,000 health and wellness centres throughout India. 

Expressing concern over cancer consuming more victims in India than in the past, he said while 3.82 lakh persons had died of it in 1990, the number jumped to 8.13 lakh in 2016.    

“While major hospitals like Apollo have set up advanced cancer treatment centres, there is a need for greater focus on early diagnosis by taking up massive screening programmes,” he said.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the state was forging ahead in delivery of quality health care.  The government hospitals were being strengthened to provide cancer treatments, he said.