Govt to provide funds to cooperative-run hospitals in rural areas

NEW DELHI: In view of the requirement of more health facilities to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre on Monday launched a scheme, ‘Ayushman Sahakar’, to strengthen health infrastructure in rural areas by extending support to cooperatives.

Under the scheme, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) will extend term loans to eligible cooperatives totaling Rs 10,000 crore in the coming years. There are around 52 hospitals with more than 5,000 beds across the country run by cooperatives.

Any cooperative society with suitable provision in its bye-laws to undertake healthcare related activities will be able to access the NCDC fund. The assistance will flow either through state governments/ UT administrations or directly to the eligible cooperatives.

Launching the scheme, minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala said ‘Ayushman Sahakar’ would revolutionise the way healthcare delivery took place in rural areas. Rupala also called upon all cooperatives to take up “healthcare services as an activity” for farmers.

“The NCDC’s scheme aligns itself with the focus of the National Health Policy 2017, covering health systems in all their dimensions — investments in health, organisation of healthcare services, access to technologies, development of human resources, encouragement of medical pluralism and affordable healthcare to farmers,” an official statement said.

It said the scheme would specifically cover establishment, modernisation, expansion, repairs, renovation of hospitals, and healthcare and education infrastructure encompassing all hospitals and Ayush facilities.

It would also cover yoga wellness centre, ayurveda, allopathy, unani, siddha, homoeopathy and other traditional medicine healthcare centres.