Chief Secretary reviews functioning of Health & Medical Education Department

JAMMU, JANUARY 17: The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a meeting to review the functioning of the Health & Medical Education Department and progress achieved under the CAPEX Budget during this financial year.

The Additional Chief Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Director, SKIMS, concerned HoDs, Principals of all Medical Colleges, and other senior officers of the Department attended the meeting.

It was informed that 422 drugs are provided free of cost across all government hospitals, especially under maternal and child health care through government drugs stores. The Chief Secretary directed the Health Department to submit a report on procurement, storage, and distribution of free medicines in all government facilities, besides raising awareness on the provision of free medicines through displayed lists at prominent places in the hospital premises.

Further, to streamline prescriptions of drugs by doctors, the Chief Secretary directed a prescription audit and asked the Department to ensure that all doctors produce their seal and signature on the prescription card, in case the prescribed drugs include non-generic medicines to be procured from the market.

Dr. Mehta emphasized switching over to digital prescriptions by the next financial year through suitable provisions in the CAPEX budget, which will be a step ahead in the direction of implementing e-Health Services in the Union territory. He maintained that the system is to be further integrated with a patient feedback mechanism on the quality of services available at government hospitals through ‘Mera Haspatal’ initiative by February 2022.

With a view to improve the standards of healthcare at all institutions across Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Secretary impressed upon the Department to introduce the Health Management Information System by March 2022. The Department was also asked to obtain quality certification for all Health Care Facilities within one year, and conduct regular training of the healthcare professionals.

Moreover, the Health and Medical Education Department was asked to notify a quality policy to be followed by the government health care institutions to ensure uniformity of treatment throughout the Union territory, while maintaining a high level of hygiene and cleanliness.

Dr. Mehta also directed the concerned to ensure adequate testing, fast-tracked vaccination in the 15-17 age category, and the best possible treatment to the COVID patients.

With regard to the completed works under the UT and District CAPEX and PMDP, the Department was asked to compile a compendium of completed projects with all details and geo-tagged photographs, to be put in the public domain for public view
[8:49 PM, 1/17/2022] Bacit: Universal health insurance PMJAY SEHAT scheme provides ray of hope to ailing poors across J&K

Samba resident Jyoti extends gratitude to LG for enabling her to get best treatment

29 Lakh beneficiaries registered in Jammu division

JAMMU, JANUARY 17:  Jyoti Devi, a 40-year-old woman from Bari Brahmana, Samba district Jammu and Kashmir has extended her gratitude to the Government for providing assistance for her treatment under the PMJAY SEHAT scheme.

Narrating her ordeals, she said a few months back a fatal road accident landed her in the hospital with a fractured leg. The mishap shook her whole family as they knew they could not bear the treatment cost.

“The doctors at the hospital said that the estimated cost of the treatment was around Rs 50 thousand. My husband is a tailor and it was beyond his reach to meet the expenses,” Jyoti said as tears rolled down her eyes.

“Somehow we come to know about the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) which came as a ray of hope for the family” she said.

For specialized treatment, they went to Pathankot, 100 kilometers from their residence and took the treatment under PMAY SEHAT card free of cost. “It was not less than a miracle,” she said.

Jyoti said, "SEHAT card helped us a lot, as our financial condition is not good. It was impossible without this scheme," she added.

Expressions of relief and joy were mirrored on Jyoti' s face, the happiness in the family has returned back. The four-member family is now happy and urged people like them to get benefits from central sponsored schemes.

“From that day, I am spreading awareness among my relatives and neighbors regarding the scheme. Now, most of the families have registered themselves for the PMJAY SEHAT and are getting benefits from it,” she said.

Like Jyoti, there are many poor families who have received treatments under PMJAY scheme. The mission has brought happiness to many poor people. Now people are getting a treatment done at major hospitals of the country.

Ankush Kumar, a resident of R S Pura, Jammu says he was suffering from kidney problem and the doctors advised him for immediate surgery. “But the family was not in a condition to bear the costs. We are poor people as my father was a labourer who died last year, it became impossible for me to go for treatment" he said.

“Then I came to know about the AB-PMJAY, SEHAT scheme. I went to a private nursing home at Gandhi Nagar Jammu. The treatment cost was around 40 thousand rupees, and the same was done under the PMAY SEHAT card for free,” he said.

“Now my health is good and I am doing a job in a factory at Gangyal and living happily with my family” he said with great satisfaction.

Kumar expressed gratitude to the central government and LG Manoj Sinha administration and stated that such schemes are the need of the hour and a ray of hope for poor families like him.

“The whole process takes a few days. All is done online. There are other schemes also for the poor people and people should take benefit from such schemes,” he added.

As per official figures around 29 Lakh beneficiaries have been registered so far in Jammu division. The Health Department has expedited the registration process as the Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha has set the deadline for March 31, 2022 for completing the registration process.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of the Government of India, was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

This initiative has been designed to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlying commitment, which is to "leave no one behind."

The main aim behind the scheme is to extend health insurance coverage to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

SEHAT stands for Social, Endeavour for Health and Telemedicine. It is a health insurance scheme for the Union Territory.

It provides free-of-cost insurance cover to all the residents of the UT of J&K.  It also provides financial cover up to Rs.5 Lakh per family on a floater basis to all residents of the UT of J&K.

The benefit of Rs 5,00,000 is on a family floater basis. This means that it can be used by one or all members of the family.

It covers medical procedures including oncology, cardiology, nephrology etc, and up to three days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days post-hospitalization expenses like diagnostics and medicines are also included in the scheme.