Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, June 17 : Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today reviewed the healthcare facilities, with special focus on Ayushman Bharat PM – Jan Arogya Yojna, in the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency.
The virtual meeting lasting one-and-half hour was attended by Deputy Commissioners and Chief Medical Officers of the six districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Doda, Reasi, Ramban and Kishtwar respectively. The beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat PM-Jan Arogya Yojna in each of these districts were also invited to the meeting to narrate their experience and provide inputs for further improvement in the implementation of the scheme.
The Deputy Commissioners attending the meeting offered their perspective and also pointed to certain constraints in terms of shortage of specialist doctors and other infrastructure. They also suggested certain improvements which could be possibly made in the implementation of Ayushman Bharat PM – JAY.
The patients who attended the meeting suggested a wider range of drugs and medicines to be made available in Jan Aushadhi Kendras. Some of them who had received the benefits of Ayushman Bharat scheme, expressed difficulties in reaching out to the health centres for follow up of the disease, particularly when they were residing in difficult or hilly terrain.
Addressing the meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh complimented the district administration and medical professionals in all these districts for their dedicated service throughout the COVID pandemic. He said, despite the recent rise in positive cases which was expected, Jammu & Kashmir as a whole has performed better than many other States and Union Territories of the country.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the shortage of doctors is under the consideration of the authorities. He said, since there was a genuine shortfall of super specialist doctors, we could try the successful experiment that we did in the North East where we have started sending one Physician and one Surgeon from each State for a six month short – term training in super speciality. He said, similarly the para-medicals could also be trained to handle specialised procedures like dialysis etc.
About Ayushamn Bharat, Dr Jitendra Singh said, a general input is that many of the deserving persons have been left out because the list of potential beneficiaries is based on the census of 2011. He said, he would discuss with the authorities in Government of India whether the scheme could have the provision to identify those who genuinely needed to be the beneficiaries but have otherwise been left out.
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