A hospital bed for every 2,000 indians under health scheme

Hospital/health centre not more 30 minutes away with 30 vital services — from diagnostics to dialysis — and a hospital bed for every 2,000 Indians is what the government aims to provide over the next five years.

Updated on: Sep 26, 2012, 24:52:14 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

From economy to health sector, Big Bang reforms seem to be the way to go.

Hospital/health centre not more 30 minutes away with 30 vital services — from diagnostics to dialysis — and a hospital bed for every 2,000 Indians is what the government aims to provide over the next five years.

The National Health Mission, which will cost 73% of the health ministry’s Rs. 3,33,018-crore allocation for the 12th plan (2012-2017), would likely to be launched next fiscal, sources said.

The ministry will seek the cabinet’s nod for the country's biggest public health programme, billed as a stepping stone to universal health coverage by 2022.

The government wants “uniformity” in health services to cut debt burden. “Health is the primary reason for indebtness for 65 % of the population,” a recent government survey said.

General surgery, free medicines, dialysis and blood banks are among the 30 services that hospitals will provide.

Substantial funds will be made available to the states to create health infrastructure, manpower and systems to meet the new targets.

"The objective will be to achieve a minimum of 500 beds per 10 lakh population in a district," says the NHM blueprint, accessed by HT. At present, there are around 250 beds for every 10 lakh Indians.

It would ensure that no one would travel for more than half-an-hour to get medical help, a government official said on condition of anonymity.

Health education overhaul is also planned to ensure 450 health workers for every one lakh people by 2017 from the existing 190.

The Medical Council of India has agreed to allow colleges with adequate infrastructure to admit 250 students a year and start a three-year bachelors of sciences course in community health.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.