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Free CT scan, blood tests at government hospitals in Assam
The tests will be outsourced to a private laboratory chain that would be reimbursed by the government for expenses incurred.
The government-run district and rural hospitals in Assam will soon provide free blood tests, x-rays, CT scans and other medical tests 24 hours a day, health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the 126-member assembly on Tuesday.
The tests will be outsourced to a private laboratory chain that would be reimbursed by the government for expenses incurred.
The health department, Sarma said, will be tying up with the private lab to provide this facility to poor people who cannot afford such crucial tests.
“The state government will foot the bill for these services that include 60 types of blood tests. The quality of these services, to be introduced in a month, will be at par with private nursing homes,” he said.
The free service – not for medical colleges – will be started with 35 hospitals and expanded to 500 smaller health centres.
The minister also said 200 well-equipped hospitals under construction will be completed during the 2018-19 fiscal. Some of these hospitals are coming up in tea estates.
For the state’s medical college hospitals, the focus was on increasing the number of beds in the intensive care unit (ICU). Of 323 such beds, 172 are in Guwahati Medical College Hospital. Private hospitals in Assam have 636 ICU beds.
