The Hindu Business Line : Dikshit stress on preventive healthcare

The Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dikshit, with (from left) Mr. Harpal Singh, Chairman, Fortis Healthcare Ltd; Mr Lalit Suri, CMD, Bharat Hotels Ltd; and Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Healthcare, at a meet in the Capital on Wednesday. — Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Nov. 18

STRESSING the need to spread medical facilities to the rural areas, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit, today sought suggestions from the healthcare sector on infrastructure facilities such as communication, power and law and order so that the Government could work on a policy in this regard.

Moreover, she also asked the corporate sector to work towards a preventive healthcare mechanism. "Many diseases can be easily avoided if there is a proper understanding of health related issues," she said.

Speaking at the India Health Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Ms Dikshit said that if minor health problems could be taken care of locally, telemedicine could be used to reach out to rural areas.

"Thirty per cent of patients in Delhi hospitals are from outside the State while Delhi already has to cater to the health needs of its 40 million population," she said.

"There should be a situation that only those who need specialist care come to Delhi. Others could get treatment at their centres itself," she added. She announced that a speciality liver institute would be set up in Delhi in the next couple of years in collaboration with the US.

Additionally, experts also called for the need to develop standardisation measures for Indian hospitals.

The Chairman of the CII National Committee on Healthcare, Dr Naresh Trehan, said that it had formed a taskforce to establish uniformity and minimum optimum standards for Indian health institutions in regard to accreditation.

The Harvard Medical School's Asst Professor of Surgery, Dr A.K. Agnihotri, called for setting up an auditing system in order to gauge the quality levels of hospitals.