Poor get free healthcare "When we came to power five years back, we decided to place the health and family welfare sector on the top of our priorities. These efforts have brought a sea change. The shortage of medicines, doctors and other state stall" is now a thing of the past. Wc have increased the overall spending on health and family welfare sectors. This year alone, a sum of Rs 1,600 crore is being spent, which is an increase of 51 per cent over the 2008-09 expenditure." Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister Dr. Jasjeet Kaur/Ruchi Sharma Haryana has taken huge strides in providing quality healthcare in its institutions. A number of new initiatives have been taken under the dynamic leadership of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda to provide quality healthcare to its people and make it affordable. The government has guaranteed free healthcare to the poor, including free surgeries and a provision for free medicines to all OPD patients and emergency cases. A unique cost-effective and hassle-free surgery package programme has been put in place. The recruitment of more doctors and the induction of specialists are some of the initiatives which have brought about this qualitative change and put Haryana in the fore-front as far as health services are concerned. The state provides healthcare through a network of 47 hospitals, including the PGIMS at Rohtak, 93 community health centres, 435 primary health centres, 20 district TB clinics, 37 PP centres, 16 urban health posts, 18 mobile dispensaries and 2,465 sub-centres. First state in India to offer free medicines to all Haryana is the first state to provide free medicines to all outdoor patients coming to dispensaries and hospitals. Besides outdoor patients, casualty and emergency patients are also being provided free medicines. The initiative involves the painstaking effort and reworking of systems at myriad levels. An Essential Drug List (EDL) consisting of 325 drugs has been prepared in consultation with speacialists to cater to all possible needs of the OPD patients. What sets Haryana apart in this unique initiative is the way the state has done micro-detailing to prepare a comprehensive EDL, ensure participation of reputed pharma companies and new systems of decentralised decision making, that seek to empower doctors working in the district hospitals. The results are incredible - the cost of drugs is unbelievably low with the average patient OPD cost of Rs 10. Further, doctors do not prescribe medicines that have to be purchased from chemists. Haryana thus has effectively eliminated the infamous nexus between pharma companies, chemists and doctors that plagues the other states. Guarantee! free healthcare for poor patients Haryana is the only state to have decided to treat the poor patients free of cost. All outdoor and indoor treatment has been made free for the BPL families and the residents of urban slums. Even major surgeries, including implants, are now free for this section of the population. Surgery package programme In another unique effort, a comprehensive surgery package scheme has been started. Under this, affordable and hassle-free quality surgeries are being conducted at the district-level government hospitals in Haryana. The scheme was launched on July 1, 2009. In the first month itself, 5,247 surgeries were conducted out of which 50 per cent have been done free of cost. The package includes all pre-test investigations, blood testing charges, besides intra-operative and post-operative medicines. The scheme has done away with the need to run around for medicines besides introducing transparency and accountability. IMPACT ? Number of outdoor patients have increased in all hospitals across the state. ? OPDs in all district hospitals have increased. Surgeries free for all ? Caesarian operations ? All eye surgeries ? Cleft lip surgeries Recruitment of doctors A revolutionary step has been taken in the recruitment process of doctors. The recruitment of doctors has been taken out of the purview of the State Public Service Commission. A high-level departmental committee recruits doctors and specialists throughout the year through a web-enabled process. The transparency in the recruitment is maintained by providing all information on the department website. As a result, about 1,200 doctors have been recruited since November 2008. As many as 597 specialists like gynaecologists, paediatricians, anaesthetists and ophthalmologists have been recruited through this process. New strides in medical education To ensure improved supply of doctors and augment tertiary healthcare the state has embarked on setting up new medical colleges. The construction work of medical college at Khanpur Kalan, Sonipat, for girls is in full swing and expected to be completed in December 2010. Another medical college in Mewat district is being set up at a cost of Rs 700 crore. The project includes the construction of a 450-bed hospital, medical college, hostels for doctors and nursing students, besides residences for doctors and other staff. Due to untiring efforts made by Rohtak MP Mr Deepender Singh Hooda the existing medical college at Rohtak is being upgraded to give it an AlIMS-like status under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthaya Suraksha Yojana. It is being done at a cost of Rs 150 crore. The college would soon have a centre of excellence for mental health. This is also largely due to the efforts made by the young MP Deepender Hooda that Haryana scored a major victory over its neighbouring states when it succeeded in getting the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Badhsa village in Jhajjar. Haryana promptly presented 300 acres of prime land for the purpose. The other healthcare institute on the anvil is the National Institute of Aging and Cancer. Referral transport According to Mrs Anuradha Gupta, Secretary, Health, Haryana has achieved another first-of-its-kind initiative, by setting up a network of more than 300 ambulances to provide low-cost referral transport to people in rural areas. The ambulances will be equipped with the GPS facility. With this, people can call up a universal toll free number -102 - to' access the ambulance services. The services would be free for the BPL patients, pregnant women and the accident cases. Mother and child services The safe delivery and the care of the newborn is the priority area of the government. To improve the mother and child healthcare in the state, 350 women medical officers have been recruited; besides, trained gynaecologists are available in all the hospitals. The facility of free ante-natal check-up, safe delivery and post-natal check-up is now available in all delivery huts. The highly-skilled and experienced doctors at the government hospitals treat the caesarean cases free of cost, whereas patients have to pay at least Rs 15,000 for the treatment of such cases in private hospitals. An additional recruitment of 2,400 nurses at primary health centres has been done to provide a round-the-clock safe institutional delivery facility. IMPACT Institutional delivery has increased to 68.9 per cent in June 2009 Health education in villages The Sakshar Mahila Samooh (SMS), a registered society of all educated women in the village, is now engaged in conducting health education. There are 6,200 SMS groups with about four lakh members. The members of the SMS have been trained to conduct health IEC activities as per a planned calendar. Easy to disseminate IEC material in Hindi has been designed to take health messages to the target population. 62,000 SMS members are now actively campaigning for better nutrition, clean environment, improved hygiene, safe/ drinking water and healthy lifestyle. ? "Health was not getting its due attention during the last regime. For the past five years the Congress Government has focussed on healthcare. We have more medical colleges and doctors. A1IMS is setting up its second campus at Jhajjar. It will be bigger than AI1MS at Delhi. PGIMS at Rohtak has the status of a university. An all women medical college at Khanpur Kalan besides another medical college is coming up in the backward region of Mewat". - Deepender Hooda, MP, Rohatk