Increase Aarogyasri facilities, use village clinics as referral centers: CM Jagan
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has advised officials to step up the medical treatment facilities under Aarogyasri beyond the existing 2,446 procedures, to help the needy get best treatment.
“Complete the recruitment process to fill the posts of doctors and other health staff by July end,” he told the officials at a review meeting he held on Aarogyasri and the Nadu-Nedu schemes, here on Tuesday.
Officials must strengthen the Aarogyasri services by making these transparent and free from irregularities. He emphasized on improving the patient referral procedure under Aarogyasri and asked the health department to make village clinics as referral centers. These should have continuous monitoring and proper display of details, the CM said.
Jagan said a letter should be given to the beneficiaries availing the scheme, mentioning the benefits they received along with a confirmation document with details of the Aarogya Aasara. The officials were told to continue the DBT method for crediting the Aarogya Aasara amount into the beneficiaries’ account.
The chief minister advised the officials to open special accounts for Aarogyasri beneficiaries to directly credit the money provided under the scheme and then get it transferred to the hospitals that treated them.
He said that transparency and accountability are the watchwords with such policies, wherein the beneficiaries can avail medical services free and without any additional burden on the patient.
Jagan said Arogya Mitras need to be more proactive. Strict action must be taken if anyone demands additional money apart from what the government is spending towards patient treatment.
Patients should be escorted through various stages of treatment, from admission to discharge, and feedback should be taken from them on the services they received.
Focus on providing free treatment under the scheme if the cost of treatment exceeds Rs 1000, he said.
Discussing the 104, 108 services, the CM asked officials to make them corruption-free and display the numbers on vehicles to lodge complaints. “There shouldn’t be any shortage of staff in government hospitals,” he said, and directed the officials to appoint the required staff and also use the services of retired physicians.
He told officials to complete the entire process by July 26.
The officials informed the CM that so far 40,188 posts have been filled in the medical and health department and the filling of another 1,132 posts is currently being done through the process of recruitment.
Some 176 new PHCs require 2072 staff and the recruitment process shall take off soon after the completion of construction, officials said.
