Raipur, 14 December 2024
Chhattisgarh was once given the status of a sick state. Chhattisgarh has been neglected since the time of Madhya Pradesh. India’s former Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had sensed this long ago. That is why when he became the Prime Minister, he separated Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh and made it a new state to show it a new path. However, there were a lot of difficulties at that time. Health facilities in the state were almost non-existent. People had to go outside the state for treatment of serious diseases. There was a shortage of doctors in the state. Raipur was the only medical college from where only a few doctors passed out and they too went outside the state in search of better facilities.
In the year 2003, a new dawn dawned in Chhattisgarh and from here Chhattisgarh started moving ahead slowly in the field of health facilities and medical education. In the journey of the last two decades, Chhattisgarh has come a long way in the field of health. Where there used to be only one medical college, today there are 10 government medical colleges in this state. MBBS seats have also increased from 100 to 1460. 291 postgraduate seats have also increased in government medical colleges, due to which the state is getting specialist doctors. By amending the rules, studies in Hindi have also been started in all the medical colleges of Chhattisgarh so that the youth of the state can become better doctors. In just one year, under the National Health Mission, 126 specialist doctors, 395 medical officers, 95 staff nurses, 35 ANMs, 29 lab technicians, 54 community health officers and 149 other posts have been appointed on contractual posts in Chhattisgarh.
Earlier, the autonomous societies of medical colleges had to take permission from the state government for spending more than one lakh rupees on urgent matters, but today, under Vishnu’s good governance, the Health Minister Shri Shyam Bihari Jaiswal has increased it to 2 crore rupees. Now, medical colleges do not have to run around government offices for life-saving things like essential equipment, medicines, etc., rather they are able to take quick decisions on their own. Powers have been allocated to autonomous societies in the direction of financial decentralization so that the people of the state can get the right treatment and facilities at the right time.
The government of Chief Minister Shri Vishnudev Sai has left no stone unturned in increasing health facilities in the state. In its very first budget, the Sai government has increased the health budget of the state by 38.5 percent from Rs 5461 crore to Rs 7563 crore. Due to adequate budget, a tremendous increase in health facilities is being seen. In Chhattisgarh, where the maternal mortality rate was 269 per one lakh in the year 2003, it has come down to 137 today.
According to the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06), institutional deliveries in the state were only 15.3 percent. Today, it has increased by almost 70 percent and has reached 85.7 percent according to the data of National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21). Compared to the year 2018, today there has been a 50 percent reduction in malaria cases in Bastar. 108 Sanjeevani Ambulance Service is really proving to be a lifesaver for the people of the state. In the last one year alone, 9 lakh 73 thousand 681 emergency phone calls were received on Dial 108 and out of these, 3 lakh 4 thousand 847 patients were benefited.
Through Chhattisgarh’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Ayushman Health Scheme, 77 lakh 20 thousand families of the state are getting free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh, which is targeted to be increased to Rs 10 lakh in the coming time. Under the Chief Minister Special Health Assistance Scheme, financial assistance of up to Rs 25 lakh is being provided for treatment in special conditions. Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 43 crore has been provided to about 1200 people in the last nine months. In the first digital budget of the state, it has been decided to open SIMS on the lines of AIIMS in all divisions and its beginning has also been made from Bilaspur. The Super Specialty Hospital of Bilaspur was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the country, Shri Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Dhanvantari Day. The state government is also going to provide the facility of organ transplant in DKS Hospital of Raipur soon.
At present, the government of Chief Minister Shri Vishnudev Sai understands very well that if Chhattisgarh has to be made a developed state on the lines of India by the year 2047, then health is an essential link through which the state will become healthy, capable and prosperous. It is a matter of happiness that Chief Minister Shri Vishnudev Sai and Health Minister Shri Shyam Bihari Jaiswal are very serious about the expansion of health facilities. Due to their efforts, health facilities are continuously expanding in Chhattisgarh and the quality of medical education is improving.
