Open trauma centre every 50 km, Ayush centres in all PHCs: Vision Group

A trauma centre every 50 km and a quality cell at every hospital are some of the recommendations made by the 38-member expert Vision Group that met for the first time on Friday.

The group will come out with a new health policy for the state in six months. “The group has been directed to prepare a report on the comprehensive development of the health sector. The report is likely to be finalised in six months,” said Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, who chaired the meeting.

“Currently, the National Health Policy 2017 is in place and we are committed to providing quality healthcare for the people of Karnataka. The meeting discuss the roadmap to achieve this,” he added.

Primary, community and district-level health services, including services at medical colleges, need to be integrated to provide quality healthcare to the people, Sudhakar said. Preventive measures like regular blood check-ups for people aged above 35 years and treating non-communicable diseases in early stages were discussed. “Arogya Karnataka will include all these aspects and the report will be ready in six months,” he added.

Twenty sub-committees have been formed in public health, cardiovascular diseases and non-communicable diseases, private sector, oncology, endocrinology, mother and child health, ophthalmology and chest medicine, among others. The committees have been asked to prepare a comprehensive report. Both allopathy and Ayush doctors are part of the group. The final report will be submitted to the chief minister, he said.

For better healthcare:

• Increasing staff at government hospitals
• Doctors and nurses to be specially trained to handle emergencies at primary levels
• Ayush centres to be opened at all PHCs
• Tele-ICU model should be adopted at each hospital to obtain specialist advice
• PPP model to render quality health services in government hospitals
• Establishment of Indian Medical Service (IMS) and Karnataka Medical Service (KMS) cadres on the lines of IAS and KAS.
• Maintain a health register to keep track of medical records of individuals
• Increase awareness about organ donation and transplant.
• Strengthen ICUs in govt hospitals
• Leverage Artificial Intelligence and robotic technology.