Moving away from the insurance-oriented policies to preventive healthcare programmes, the state government on Friday announced a bold step to counter the growing incidents of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer and cardiovascular especially among the women.

Determined to make healthcare facilities affordable to all, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has allocated Rs 10 crore to set up cancer treating centres at all the district headquarters. 

Announcing that everyone shall have good health besides affordable health care services, Kumaraswamy said, “Detecting cancer in the early stage is very essential to save patients’ lives. Hence it is proposed to start mammogram and papsmear scanning facilities in all districts. To begin with, 10 districts will have the facility this year.”

While this was taken up to address breast cancer among women, he said, “A total of Rs 60 crore has been allocated to open cancer hospital in Tumakuru with the facilities of onco-surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy as there has been growing number of cases.” 

Learning a lesson from the sudden and largescale outbreak of the dreaded Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) in Malnad districts, the chief minister said, “A KFD research and treatment unit will be set up at Shivamogga at a cost of Rs 5 crore.” He also announced additional funds to augment the production of KFD vaccines. 

Ensuring safety at the private and government X-ray centres, Directorate of X-ray Safety will be established as per the Atomic Energy Research Board guidelines. As many as four  Divisional Model Blood Bank Centres will be established at a cost of Rs 10 crore, facilitating the effective supply of blood.

To provide secondary and tertiary health services to the people of Malnad district  Chikkamagaluru, he announced to upgrade the existing hospital into a super-speciality hospital at a cost of Rs 50 crore. Doddaballapura taluk hospital will be upgraded with 250 beds at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics will be established at a cost of Rs 40 crore in Vijayapura district as a 100-bed facility. At the Bengaluru facility of the hospital, a sports injury division will be established.

Sports Injury and Robotic Surgery facility will be provided with a grant of Rs 10 crore.