All governments must have the right to health legislation: Dr TS Singh DEO

New Delhi: All governments must have the right to health legislation which binds into providing healthcare through public money where out-of-pocket expenses are minimised to the least possible and a large section of the population is prevented from falling into the poverty trap said Dr TS Singh Deo, Minister for Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of Chhattisgarh while addressing the august gathering at the Economic Times Healthcare Leaders’ Summit 2022.

Speaking at the summit Dr Singh said, “Healthcare is never free because you've already paid for it through taxes. Whatever is provided by the government is the generalisation of tax money through services like healthcare.

Commenting on Dr Khoobchand Baghel Swasthya Sahayata Yojana (DKBSSY), Dr Singh said, “There were multiple verticals where Government of India and other agencies were providing funds for healthcare, hearing aid transplant, separate scheme for children, separate scheme for other items, of all these schemes under one head, was termed the Dr Khoobchand Baghel Yojana.

“Corona has forced the government to push more money into health infrastructure through various funds being released through Prime Minister Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM ABHIM),” said Dr Singh

Commenting on the takeover of medical colleges Dr Singh mentioned that “I believe the Planning Commission at some point had visualised having a medical college in each district. We have 11 Lok Sabha seats, for every Lok Sabha, we should have one medical college. We had six when we formed the government two of these were under construction, we are trying to complete the infrastructure as soon as possible.”

“As we are aware, healthcare is seen in three levels, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. A study says that about 70 per cent of the cases are in primary healthcare, about 22 per cent would be secondary about 7-8 per cent would be tertiary care,” said Dr Singh.

Speaking about the strategy to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) in the country Dr Singh said, “The national goal is to eliminate TB by 2025. The strategy to eliminate the disease would be by identifying those who have TB. Reaching the patients and collecting samples and being able to diagnose them in time. There is divergence between the public and the private sector we're not getting enough information from the private sector of those who have been diagnosed with TB. We’re not progressing well in diagnosing and treating TB in Chattisagarh. We are among the worst in the country, but we are attempting to cure TB,” he concluded.