A health institution will be set up in each assembly constituency of Himachal Pradesh to strengthen the health infrastructure of the hill state, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Thursday. To be developed as ‘Adarsh Swasthaya Sansthan’, these institutes will comprise 134 types of laboratory test facilities, specialists, and medical staff to provide the latest state-of-the-art MRI, CT scan, ultrasound, and digital X-ray facilities, he said while presiding over a meeting of the health department.
The institutions will reduce the local residents’ dependence on district hospitals and strengthen the infrastructure of medical and nursing education, he said, according to a statement issued here on Thursday. The Congress-led state government has accorded top priority to the health sector so that world-class medical facilities could be provided to the patients within the state, which would go a long way in saving the time and money of the masses, the chief minister said.
The state government was now working on strengthening the health infrastructure and diagnostic facilities in the health institutions of the state to ensure better health care to the people at their doorsteps, Sukhu said. The robotic surgery facilities would be started on a pilot basis in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital Shimla and Medical College Tanda in the next six months, and training will be imparted to doctors and other staff in this respect soon, he said.
The health secretary would submit a detailed report within 15 days detailing the requisite number of doctors and other staff in different categories to start the surgery, the chief minister said. Keeping in view the increasing number of cancer patients, a Centre of Excellence for Cancer Care would be opened in Dr. Radhakrishanan Government Medical College in Hamirpur, he said.
A provision of Rs 400 crore has been made for the hospital, and 150 beds would be dedicated only to the oncology
department, Sukhu added.
