“Corporate leaders across all sectors should explore opportunities of investment in the emerging field of senior care.” This was stated by SmtAnupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare during her keynote address at the ‘1st Annual Senior Care Conclave’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Speaking at the function, Smt Anupriya Patel stated that the rapidly changing global demographics have resulted in a sharp rise in the demand for senior care services.“Health services are to be designed in such way that there is a complete coordination across the thread of care providers to cure acute conditions and symptoms,” she said. Smt Anupriya Patel also released a CII Report“Igniting Potential in Senior Care Services” and inaugurated an exhibition at the event.
Speaking at the occasion, Smt Anupriya Patel stated that the rapidly changing global demographics have resulted in a sharp rise in the demand for senior care services. This coupled with an increased life expectancy of the population, and an increased tendency globally to have nuclear families, has further accelerated the growth in the senior care sector, she said.
Highlighting the initiatives of the Health Ministry,Smt Anupriya Patel said that the “National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE)” addresses various health related issues of the elderly people and the programme is an articulation of the international and national commitments of the government. The programme is State oriented and basic thrust of the programme is to provide dedicated health care facilities to the senior citizens (>60 year of age) at various level of primary, secondary and tertiary health care, she added.“The basic aim of the NPHCE Programme is to provide dedicated, specialized and comprehensive health care to the senior citizens at various levels of state health care delivery system including outreach services. Preventive and promotive care, management of illness, health manpower development for geriatric services, medical rehabilitation & therapeutic intervention and IEC are some of the strategies envisaged in the NPHCE,”SmtAnupriya Patel mentioned.
The Minister further stated that NPHCE was launched in 100 identified districts of 21 States and Eight Regional Geriatrics Centres in selected medical colleges as referral units during the 11th Plan period. As on March 2018, 520 districts in 34 states and UT’s had been sanctioned for provision of geriatric care services. “19 regional geriatric centres in government medical colleges of 18 states sanctioned for specialized care and training purpose. Two National Centres for Ageing(NCA) in AIIMS Delhi and Madras Medical College, Chennai have been sanctioned to be developed as centres of excellence for geriatrics. In 2018-19, 79 more districts have been recommended, taking the number of districts sanctioned for provision of geriatric care services to 599 districts,” She elaborated.
Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the Government has brought about a paradigm shift in the national healthcare. Addressing the 15th Health Summit organized by CII, he said that an entrepreneurial model is being created by tapping the talent, energy and resources outside the Government system to provide affordable, accessible and sustainable healthcare. The Minister said that Ayushman Bharat, popularly known as Modicare, is the biggest health care system being implemented by the State which will provide health facilities to almost half the country’s population. He said that an ecosystem is being created to provide for more doctors, para-medicos, health infrastructure, etc. He said that this has given big boost to the health industry, as India is also becoming a favourite destination for overseas patients, particularly from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the sector is becoming a service exporter. Sh Pradhan said that there have been formal agreements with Japan and UAE for providing skilled manpower in the healthcare sector, as Indian workforce has the qualities of sensitivity, compassion and responsibility.
The Minister said that that Health Care Council, set up by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, is aggressively pushing to provide trained manpower. The Government has fulfilled the demand for setting up a statutory body for Allied and Other healthcare services. Sh Pradhan said that Indian pharmaceutical industry is already a global player and is in a big league. He said that India can be alaboratory for affordable healthcare industry. He called upon all the stakeholders to contribute in the efforts.
“The Government is committed to the attainment of highest possible levels of health and wellbeing for all its citizensand providing “Healthcare for All.” This was stated by Smt Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare at the 15th India Health Summit, an annual flagship event on healthcare, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Indian Healthcare – Changing Paradigm.’ At the function, Smt Anupriya Patel also released a report, ‘Creating the New Ecosystems to Provide Healthcare.’
Smt Anupriya Patel further stated that one of the biggest policy initiatives was the release of National Health Policy, 2017 after a gap of fifteen long years which paves the way for Universal Health Coverage and reduction of out-of-pocket expenses.She said that the other policy achievements in the past four years include the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and HIV/AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act 2017, MCI Ordinance.
Highlighting other achievements of the Ministry, Smt Anupriya Patel further said the Government’s new schemes and programs have contributed to changing the health scenario of the country. She added that Mission Indradhanush yielded very encouraging results which has made us set our target date of bringing 90% full immunization rate in the country to 2018, much before the target date of 2020. Five new vaccines have been added to India’s Universal Immunization Program, bringing the total to twelve, she said.The Minister further informed that the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme is providing free dialysis services to the poor in the district hospitals in PPP mode and AMRIT Pharmacies provide drugs and implants for cancer patients and cardiovascular diseases at 60 to 90% discount than the prevailing market rates.
Speaking further on Ayushman Bharat, Smt Anupriya Patel said that it is a step towards fulfilling the vision of National Health Policy, 2017 and adopts a continuum of care approach through it two pillars. The 1stpillar being Health and Wellness Centre aimed at bringing healthcare to the homes of people and under it 1.5 lakh subcentres and primary healthcare Centres across the country would be transformed into Health and Wellness Centres, she added.
Smt Anurpiya Patel further elaborated that the 2nd pillar is Ayushman Bharat- PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojana (PMJAY) that provides insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs per annum for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to more than 10 crore poor and vulnerable families across the country. This is a holistic initiative in the public health sector aimed at fixing the current fragmented and inequitable healthcare system of providing continuum of care covering primary, secondary and tertiary aspects of healthcare along with financial risk protection to the poor. “Ayushman Bharat is being implemented at unprecedented scale to build new India by 2022 and will bring paradigm shift in India’s healthcare sector. This holistic and comprehensive approach towards healthcare will definitely achieve the goal of “Health for all’’, she mentioned.