Karnataka Budget: Rs 320 cr mission to bring preventable maternal deaths to zero

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced a Rs 320 crore-mission to bring preventable maternal deaths to zero in the state.

Delivering a record 16th budget speech on Friday, he explained that this programme would include distributing nutrition kits, Vatsalya Kits, and financial incentives for pregnant women to prevent anaemia, deploying mother and child health specialists in every taluk hospital, equipping hospitals with equipment and novel technology to treat and prevent postpartum haemorrhage.

Besides this, all maternal mortality cases will be audited by the state Technical Expert Committee to formulate recommendations, a process that the state health department has already begun.

Track live updates from the Budget speech

CM Siddaramaiah also announced two new programmes for Kalyana Karnataka and mining-affected areas: one, a pilot programme to diagnose Rare Metabolic Disorders in the prenatal babies and infants at Rs 10 crore, and two, vaccinating 14-year-old girls against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in 20 taluks at Rs 9 crore.

This year, along with expanding their door-to-door Gruha Arogya scheme, the health department will implement a Rs 50 crore mission-mode programme to control communicable diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) and allocate Rs 12 crore for cochlear implant programmes for children with hearing impairment.

Additionally, he said that the state will set up a 100-bed critical care block (CCB) in Bengaluru and 14 50-bed CCBs across Karnataka; 50-bed Mother and Child Hospitals (MCH) in Athani, Hunagunda and Mudhol taluks; set up a 200-bed hospital in Bengaluru North taluk at Rs 150 crore; and spend Rs 20 crore to expand Nimhans’ Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (KaBHI) across the state.

In line with previous budget announcements, the department will upgrade several primary health centres (PHCs) of new taluks to community health centres (CHCs), besides setting up a CHC in Ponnampet (Kodagu), said the CM. Several taluk hospitals and two district hospitals will be renovated at Rs 650 crore, besides setting up new hospitals in Chitradurga and Kodagu.

Key announcements:

- Rs 873 crore for several initiatives to improve health services and systems in the Kalyana Karnataka region under the Kalyana Karnataka Comprehensive Health Scheme.

- Rs 100 crore to expand Gruha Arogya door-to-door non-communicable disease screening across the state.

- ASHA workers’ honorarium to be enhanced by Rs 1,000.

- First-of-its-kind policy to prevent and treat burn injuries among women.

- Software to monitor and maintain medical equipment procured and distributed by the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Limited.

- New medical college in Puttur, Dakshina Kannada.

- 100 TrueNAT machines to health centres seeing a high tuberculosis caseload.

- Command Control Centre which controls Arogya Kavach 108 ambulance services to come under the state health department.