Free of cost pathology and radiology tests will soon be available for all in major government hospitals of Uttarakhand, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said in a meeting of health officials on Monday.
Rawat said that the facility of free lab tests was launched (by the erstwhile Congress government) in October last year, but was applicable to only the Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojana (MSBY, or Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme) card holders, which were barely 36,000 in number.
“We are now working to provide free tests for all residents of Uttarakhand across major government hospitals of the state so that people don’t have to go to private labs,” said Rawat, directing health department and National Health Mission (NHM) officials to ensure launch of the facility at the earliest.
Free lab tests will be to provided to all residents of Uttarakhand against furnishing of Aadhaar cards, while the facility will be provided at reasonable prices to those from outside the state, added the chief minister.
Chandresh Kumar Yadav, NHM’s mission director, said that the Central government has sanctioned adequate budget which can be dedicated for the scheme. He added that the NHM has procured 21 blood cell counters from a French company which will be made available to 21 hospitals across all districts soon.
{{/usCountry}}Chandresh Kumar Yadav, NHM’s mission director, said that the Central government has sanctioned adequate budget which can be dedicated for the scheme. He added that the NHM has procured 21 blood cell counters from a French company which will be made available to 21 hospitals across all districts soon.
{{/usCountry}}Dr. Archana Srivastava, director general (health), said that the health department had initiated the process of procuring 14 automatic analysers with the help of the NHM, while other equipments like autoimmune analyser and electrolyte analyser were also being supplied in association with the NHM. Computerised radiology system will be also be provided to 10 district hospitals for free tests.