- Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will increase
public expenditure on health . - There will be an integrated
Public Health Labs in all districts at block level as the current lab network in rural areas is inadequate to deal with an epidemic. - All districts will have infectious diseases hospital blocks.
All districts will have infectious diseases hospital blocks. Moreover, there will be integrated
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The government will focus on developing both hospitals and labs — including those which are privately funded. The government will also encourage research by introducing a National Institutional Platform for One health by ICMR. The National Digital Health Mission will receive a special impetus by implementing a ‘national digital health blueprint’.
“We should see the opportunity in this crisis. Health reforms and initiative have been put in place. Investments in grass-root level will be ramped up — clinics and wellness centres. Viability gap funding was discussed yesterday,” Sitharaman added.
The health reforms are announced at the same time when India reported the highest spike of 4,987 coronavirus cases in a single day, taking the total coronavirus cases above 90,000 mark.
In the last two months, the government has released ₹15,000 crore for health-related steps. According to Sitharaman, an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh per health worker was announced. India’s 33-year-old Epidemic Disease Act was also $4to prevent attacks on health workers.
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