Bengaluru: Setting up day-care chemotherapy centres in each district, providing digital mammography machines to 20 district hospitals, colposcopy machines to KC general hospital in Bengaluru and others in districts are among the announcements for the health sector from the Karnataka budget on Friday.
Presenting the 2024-25 budget in the Assembly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said state-of-the-art Critical Care Blocks (CCB) will be set up in each district to provide better healthcare to patients suffering from critical illness. Construction has already started in 15 districts.
In the current year, work will be taken up in Udupi, Davanagere, Vijayapura, Mysuru, Mandya, Dharwad and Koppal districts at a cost of Rs 187 crore. CCBs will be set up in the remaining nine districts in the next year, the chief minister said.
He further said that 100-bedded taluka hospitals will be constructed at a cost of Rs 280 crore in Anekal, Nelamangala, Hoskote, Shringeri, Khanapura, Shirahatti and Yelandur talukas. Announcing a grant of Rs 75 crore for repairs and renovation of dilapidated buildings, he said the Mother and Child Hospital building and other infrastructure facilities at the premises of KC General Hospital here will be taken up at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
ALSO READ: Properties in Bengaluru to get digital ownership document: CM Siddaramaiah
In order to provide 24x7 emergency healthcare services to rural people, 25 PHCs will be upgraded to Community Health Centres (CHC) at a cost of Rs 350 crore over the next two years. In the current year, 15 CHCs will be operationalised, the chief minister said.
Forty-six new PHCs will be set up through Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board at a cost of Rs 221 crore. As many as 6,493 Health and Wellness Centres have been established to provide quality health care services in rural areas. In the current year, Rs 130 crore will be provided for the construction of 199 health and wellness centres. Since there are no chemotherapy treatment centres in most of the districts for providing treatment and for continuous follow-up to cancer patients, a Day-Care Chemotherapy Centre will be set up in each district with Rs 20 crore, Siddaramaiah said.
For early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and cervical cancer that are increasing among women, digital mammography machines will be provided to 20 district hospitals and Colposcopy machines will be provided to KC General Hospital and district hospitals of Udupi, Kolar and Davanagere at a cost of Rs 21 crore, he added.
In the next two years, STEMI (Severe Heart Attack) treatment will be extended through Hub-and-Spoke model to all the taluka hospitals.
Also, Rs 32 crore will be provided for the procurement of thrombolytic drugs for the treatment of STEMI and stroke.
An Inquiry Commission has been set up to conduct a judicial inquiry into the serious allegations made in the Public Accounts Committee Report of 2021 regarding management of Covid-19 pandemic, the chief minister announced. Necessary action will be taken based on the report of the Commission, he said.
The Chief Minister said Rs 20 crore will be provided in the next two years to set up 430 laboratories to provide affordable and qualitative laboratory service for residents of Bengaluru. Integrated and Public Health Laboratory (IPHL) will be set up in each of the district hospitals in the next four years to provide qualitative and affordable laboratory services.
IPHLs will be set up in Chikkamagaluru, Vijayanagar, Shivamogga, Belagavi, Mandya, Hassan and Kodagu districts in the current year and in Chitradurga, Bagalakote, Chamarajanagara, Bidar, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi,Uttara Kannada and Gadag during 2025-26, he said. Apart from this, taluka level block Public health laboratories will be established in Hunagunda, Sirsa and Hagaribommanahalli during this year. A total grant of Rs 11 crore will be provided towards this purpose, Siddaramaiah announced.
One Ayurveda diabetes unit each would be set up in the four divisions of the state to provide Ayush treatment to the public for control of diabetes, he said.
Since there are no blood storage units in first referral units of many districts of north Karnataka, it is becoming difficult to supply blood during an emergency. To overcome this, 50 new blood storage units will be established in the next two years, the chief minister said.
Siddaramaiah said Rs six crore will be provided for procurement of 87 True-Nat machines for screening of tuberculosis in PHCs for eliminating tuberculosis by 2025. Also, a grant of Rs 400 crore will be provided for construction and purchase of equipment for medical colleges and Rs 130 crore will be provided for construction of super speciality hospitals, he added. The existing 40-bedded Nephro-Urology hospital in Mysuru will be upgraded to a 100-bed hospital and a Child Health Care unit will be set up in Kalaburagi Medical College hospital with technical assistance from Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, Siddaramaiah said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.