Thiruvananthapuram: The new people’s health policy will moot new courses for undergraduate medical students in geriatrics, trauma care and family health to make young doctors more sensitive towards the emerging health issues in the state. Sources said these proposals will be part of the new policy which aims at bringing ground-breaking changes in the health sector. The expert panel constituted to draft the policy has held discussions with representatives of more than 200 organisations. Hundreds of suggestions have been received by the panel during its sittings held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Thrissur.
These suggestions are being compiled sector wise. The focus is on sectors like life style diseases, vaccination, women and child health, geriatric care, emergency medicine, trauma care, mental health, child mental health programme, health issues confronting transgender, communicable diseases, infectious diseases, school health programmes, food safety and waste management. These suggestions will be linked with the three tier panchayati raj institutions for effective implementation After compiling the suggestions, the expert committee will have a sitting with Health Minister.
“We expect to come out with the draft policy by December,” said an official. The new policy will also recommend higher budgetary allocation for health sector. While the district hospitals will be raised to the level of medical college hospitals, emphasis will be laid on improving facilities at the lowest level of health care mechanism – the sub centres. The idea is to equip sub centre to cater to 5000 population and deal with health issues like geriatric care, life style diseases and family health care.
