'Karnataka preferred stop for foreign patients'

BENGALURU: Karnataka is the most sought-after destination in India for foreign patients as it offers better facilities than many other states, health and family welfare minister B Sriramulu said on Saturday.

He was speaking at the Times Healthcare Achievers-2019 award ceremony organised by The Times of India to recognise achievers in government and private healthcare sectors.

Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Jawaid Akhtar, and CEO of AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited Gagandeep Singh were present at the event.

"We are taking this as a challenge to improve our healthcare services," Sriramulu said. Akhtar said several state and central schemes have been implemented to fight the problems faced by the public healthcare sector.

" As a part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, health and wellness centres in the state will work to eradicate 12 non-communicable diseases in the coming years," Akhtar said, adding that by the end of March 2020, the state will have 3,000 such centres.

Gagandeep Singh said the central scheme has given the underprivileged access to better healthcare services.

"We need to look out for the growth of digital technology like electronic medical records, tele-medicines, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare," Singh added.