The Hindu Business Line : We need to build on capacities created in health sector: PM

Chennai, Sept. 5 The Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS), to cover 10 lakh people from families below the poverty line, has been liberalised further to take medical care to rural India, according to the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram.

Medical insurance is now available for a small premium. For an individual, the annual premium under the UHIS has been reduced to Rs 300 from Rs 365; for a family of five, it is reduced to Rs 450 from Rs 548; and for a seven-member family, it is to Rs 600 against Rs 730 earlier, he said.Addressing the launch of Apollo Reach Hospitals, a chain of hospitals planned in rural and semi-urban centres, he said the Centre has also decided to increase the age limit eligible for cover under UHIS to 70 years from 65 previously. The premium will include pre-existing diseases, which were not covered till now. The policy will also be extended to maternity cases.

Complex challenge

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, launching the Apollo Reach Hospitals, said the challenge of providing healthcare in a country like India is complex. Good health outcomes are not simply a matter of availability of health care providers. They depend on a number of factors like water supply and sanitation, education, and infant nutrition.

The challenge of providing affordable quality healthcare to people cannot be left only to the State. The nature of private health care provisioning in India is extremely diverse. It ranges from the village level provider of alternative systems of medicine to high-quality specialty hospitals. This entire range of societal capacity created in the health sector is something that we need to build on, he said.

Along with education and employment, health has been a major priority of the government. “We have tried to address the serious deficiencies in the rural public health system through the National Rural Health Mission. I am happy to say that the Mission is beginning to show positive results on the ground. These must be consolidated,” he said.

“I am sure that this innovative model (of Apollo), which has tele-medicine at its core and integrates technology with the provision of health care, would be an ideal example of how an effective outreach programme can be planned and implemented,” he said.

Hospital plans

Dr Pratap C. Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said that in the next two years 35 Apollo Reach Hospitals — each with 100-150 beds — would be set up at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore to take quality healthcare to rural India.

Dr Singh inaugurated the first Apollo Reach at Karim Nagar, Andhra Pradesh, through a tele-link, while the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Dr M. Karunanidhi, inaugurated the Karaikudi centre in Tamil Nadu.

Apollo Group plans to set up 250 such hospitals in the next 10 years. It also plans to set up a health knowledge city in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, as a health resource skill development initiative. Setting up medical colleges is also on the group’s roadmap, according to a press release.

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