BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Thursday said it will upgrade its 2,380 primary health centres into 24/7 facilities with staff quarters, labs and radiology units to offer better healthcare facilities to people at the grassroots. Health minister K Sudhakar and his department officials made a presentation about the plan to chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
“Each PHC will be upgraded at a cost of Rs 6 crore to Rs 8 crore, and this will be in line with the PM’s plan of establishing health and wellness centres in every village,” the minister told reporters. The government is planning to raise funds from the World Bank for the Rs 19,000-crore project. “Each PHC will have quarters for staffers, including doctors. This will address the problem of doctors not willing to work in rural areas. Each centre will have an ambulance,” he said.
He said the PHCs will be linked to state-run specialty hospitals through the internet to provide tertiary treatment for patients at grassroots centres. Taluk and district hospitals will also be modernized, with each district hospital set to have 500-700 beds from the existing
200. The hospitals will have cardiology and cancer wings to avoid people from coming to big cities for treatment, the minister said.
“As we require around Rs 15,000 crore implement the project, we plan to adopt PPP model and pay private entities in yearly instalments,” Sudhakar said. “The CM has said he will allocate funds in the upcoming budget. We will seek adequate financial assistance from the World Bank and implement the project in phases.”