Marking a crucial turning point for the nation's public healthcare system, more than 150,000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB-HWCs) will now be operational across India before December 30.
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya shared the information via a tweet from his official handle on Thursday saying, "1,50,000 Health & Wellness Centers! PM had set a target of introducing 1.5 lahks AB-HWCs in the country by December 2022. I am happy to inform that today we have achieved this target. These centers will certainly strengthen the primary health care of the citizens."
Replying to the tweet by Dr Mandaviya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the achievement claiming that it would prove to be a key to India's success in the health perspective.
स्वस्थ नागरिकों में ही भारतवर्ष की समृद्धि निहित है। इस दिशा में रिकॉर्ड संख्या में बने ये हेल्थ एंड वेलनेस सेंटर्स बड़ी भूमिका निभाएंगे। यह उपलब्धि न्यू इंडिया में एक नई ऊर्जा भरने वाली है। https://t.co/OfBsRIorsR
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 29, 2022
According to a statement from the Union Health Ministry, more than 134 billion people across the nation have benefited from AB-HWCs. Of those, more than 86.90 billion beneficiaries have been cumulatively screened for non-communicable diseases, including 29.95 crore for hypertension, 25.56 crore for diabetes, 17.44 crore for oral cancer, 8.27 crore for breast cancer, and 5.66 crore for cervical cancer.
As per the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ayushman Bharat (AB) is an effort to deliver a full spectrum of services including preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care instead of a selective approach to health care. It consists of two parts that work well together.
In order to provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care, which is universal and free to users, with an emphasis on wellness and the delivery of an expanded variety of services closer to the community, 1,50,000 Health & Wellness Centers (HWCs) will be established as part of its first component. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which offers health insurance coverage of Rs. 5 lakhs annually to more than 10 crore poor and vulnerable households for secondary and tertiary treatment, is the second part.
HWC are expected to provide a broader range of services than just maternal and paediatric care, such as care for non-communicable diseases, palliative and rehabilitative care, oral, eye, and ENT care, mental health, and first-level care for emergencies and trauma, including free essential drugs and diagnostic services.
